The New York Giants have a decision to make on safety Landon Collins in the coming days, and the next step could be taken as early as Tuesday. And while the franchise tag appears to be a very realistic possibility, the two sides are not in active negotiations on a long-term contract, reports ESPN’s Josina Anderson.
Collins is one of the premiere players poised to become an unrestricted free agent in March and, arguably, the best safety overall. However, it’s unlikely the Giants allow him to even hit the open market.
Beginning on Tuesday, teams across the league are permitted to place the franchise designation and other tags on one of their pending free agents, and Collins is among 10 or so across the league that appear to be foregone conclusions for just such a tag.
Collins had hoped to avoid the franchise tag, which will carry a cap hit of roughly $12.03 million in 2019, but acknowledged that it was beyond his control.
“My hopes are to be here, honestly. That’s my hopes,” Collins told reporters on December 31. “Like I said from the beginning, I’ve been drafted here, I want to finish my career here. It’s a hope and it’s a dream of mine, and hopefully make it a reality.
“The process has not begun yet. Hopefully it begins soon. Gettleman announced it in the meeting today that guys that have contracts coming up, we’re going to talk about it when we have the chance to. So, it’s going to come down the line, and we’re going to have that discussion. I’m going to leave that up to my agency, and go from there.”
Should the Giants make that call and designate Collins as their franchise player, it would allow them a window (through July 15) to negotiate a long-term deal. If they are unable to come to agreement in that time, Collins would play the year on the franchise tag and then become an unrestricted free agent in 2020.
The deadline to tag a player in March 15.
