The Giants landed Panthers free agent corner James Bradberry on a three-year, $45 million deal with $32 million guaranteed on Monday, according to a source.
Giants GM Dave Gettleman drafted Bradberry, 26, in the second round in 2016 while serving as the Panthers GM.
The fifth-year veteran was considered a top-10 corner on this year's free agent market, though well behind the Dallas Cowboys' Byron Jones, who chose the Miami Dolphins as his new home.
Bradberry has started all 60 of his career NFL games and has eight interceptions, 47 total passes defended, 279 total tackles _ seven for loss _ and three sacks.
The Giants desperately need help in their secondary, which suffered both from veteran slowdowns and young mistakes in a disappointing 2019. At corner, they released Janoris Jenkins before last season was over and otherwise employed mostly young, struggling or developing CBs.
Bradberry has failed to eclipse Pro Football Focus' coverage grade of 65.0 in each of his past three seasons, but he has good size at 6-1, 212 pounds and should be an upgrade over what the Giants have _ though they're paying a hefty price for it in Monday's agreement.
The Giants' available cap space is dwindling quickly, actually, from the $72.7 million they entered free agency with, per overthecap.com.
Bradberry ($15 million), Leonard Williams' franchise tag ($16.1 million), new projected 2020 cap hits for LB David Mayo ($2.8 million) and FB Eli Penny ($1.15 million), and a projected $12.7 million they'll need for their NFL Draft picks leaves them with about $24.95 million in space.
But Gettleman said at the NFL Combine that ideally he'd like to enter the season with around $20 million in reserve for a rainy day or midseason negotiations.
So the Giants can't keep breaking the bank on contracts during free agency, it would seem, but they'll certainly search for value buys and maybe even swing some trades to work around it.
