According to the calculations of Jason LaCanfora of the NFL Network the New York Giants are roughly $5 million under the NFL salary cap for the 2011-2012 season. LaCanfora's numbers were released prior to the Giants' free-agent signings of safeties Deon Grant and Derrick Martin, which were both announced this morning.
The Giants' adjusted salary cap figure, per LaCanfora, is $123,668,670.00. Prior to today's transactions they had spent $118,357,838.00, leaving them $5,310,832.00 to spend. Obviously, today's moves -- especially the Grant signing -- cut into that somewhat. Details of Grant's contract are not yet know, though, so we don't know how much.
To be honest, I am not quite sure how to react to this tidbit of information. Obviously, the Giants have done a lot of work to get under the cap -- releasing Shaun O'Hara, Rich Seubert and Shawn Andrews, and restructuring several contracts to make them more cap-friendly.
They are, however, holding firm in dealing with defensive end Osi Umenyiora and watched tight end Kevin Boss and wide receiver Steve Smith go elsewhere when the Giants did not match or exceed the offers those players had on the table.
Perhaps we will never know if the Giants really wanted to match the offer Smith got from the Philadelphia Eagles, or if they were really OK with letting him walk away. I just find it interesting that the Giants, who reportedly have been hamstrung by salary cap difficulties, currently have a little more room to play with than we might have realized.