The New York Giants are finally getting some help at linebacker, but, on the surface at least, help that won’t come cheaply.
Alec Ogletree, who per ESPN will become a Giant as of March 14 when all trades agreed upon since the Super Bowl become official, is set to count for $10 million against the 2018 salary cap. (Over the Cap has him with a cap figure of $11.6 million, but the Rams will be on the hook for what’s left of the signing bonus, including the $1.6 million which was to hit this year).
Ogletree’s 2018 cap figure includes a $3 million base salary and a $7 million roster bonus due March 16. In sum, he’s due $10 million in guaranteed money for 2018 as part of the 4-year, $42 million extension he signed with the Rams in October.
That’s not good news for a Giants team that had an estimated $23,519,984 in cap space prior to the deal being announced and which, per the New York Post, has plans to tender restricted free agent offensive lineman Brett Jones at the second-round level ($2.91 million).
Deduct the $12.91 million (the sum of the Ogletree and Jones cap figures) and that leaves the Giants with a little over $10.6 million in projected cap space.
Then toss in the adjusted rookie pool allotment, which I’ve calculated to be approximately $9.021 million, and it’s clear the Giants have to clear some additional space.
As we wait for the Giants to trim some of the bloated contracts off their roster — those moves will likely be made no later than next week — one thing the Giants probably will do is to convert Ogletree’s $7 million roster bonus into a signing bonus that can be prorated over the years left on the contract.
That would come to $1.75 million per year which would still give Ogletree the guaranteed $10 million in cash for 2018, but which would lower his 2018 cap number to a much more reasonable $4.75 million.