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Giants news, 9/7: Darius Slayton, salary cap issues, Saquon Barkley, NFC East, more

New York Giants headlines for Wednesday

By JamesPHickey
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Good morning, New York Giants fans!

Darius Slayton excused from Giants practice Tuesday | ProFootballTalk

Wide receiver Darius Slayton wasn’t sure he’d make the cut to 53 players with the Giants last week, but he wound up sticking around as the Giants made other moves to reach the roster limit.

That makes it notable that Slayton was excused from practice on Tuesday—the Giants did the same thing with veteran linebacker Blake Martinez before they released him last week.

Giants’ unofficial Week 1 depth chart: Austin Calitro replaces Blake Martinez | Big Blue View

The New York Giants first (unofficial) depth chart of the 2022 NFL regular season is out, and there are some interesting twists. The most notable is journeyman linebacker Austin Calitro in as a starting inside linebacker, the spot that belonged to Blake Martinez until just a few days ago.

Ben Bredeson is listed as the starting left guard. That might be the case, and it might not be. The starter Sunday vs. the Tennessee Titans could be any of Bredeson, Josh Ezeudu, Jack Anderson, Tyre Phillips or Devery Hamilton. We will see Sunday afternoon.

Giants re-structure Leonard Williams’ contract, get under 2022 salary cap | Big Blue View

With Williams carrying cap hits of $27.3 million this season and $26.3 million next season, this always appeared to be the most necessary move for GM Joe Schoen to make. The Giants are converting $17.88 million of Williams’ base salary, which is $19 million in 2022, into a signing bonus. They are also adding a void year, which would be 2024. Yates’ math has the move creating $11.92 million in cap space.

Williams’ updated cap hits are $15.4 million in 2022, $32.3 million in 2023 and $6 million (void year) in 2024.

Giants’ salary-cap problems must be fixed before they take step forward: Joe Schoen has the right plan, according to cap whiz - nj.com

Joe Banner, a salary-cap whiz during his time as Philadelphia Eagles president, thinks the New York Giants took the first step to reversing their fortune by firing general manager Dave Gettleman. So what would success for the Giants look like in year one of the Schoen-Daboll era?

“They made the right decision to create a new team of leaders,” said Banner. “I want to see that my coach has the kind of management skills and leadership skills that I thought he did and that he hired and managed a quality staff that can help me develop players. And I want to see a general manager who has enough confidence to take that step back in order to take a very sizable step forward and I want to see young players who can be part of a really good team by year three. I don’t care how many games they win. If I see those three things, I’m feeling very optimistic and hopeful and I think they’ll be ready to take a good step forward in year two and a major step forward in year three.”

Daniel Jones opines on working with the new coaching staff

With no plays to call, Brian Daboll ‘trying to do the best I can to help the players’ | Big Blue View

After three preseason games, BBV's Ed Valentine writes that Daboll has learned that his game day preparation is different than it was as a coordinator.

“When you’re calling plays, it’s just a different mindset. When you’re calling the play and you have your call sheet and you’re going through tons of different play calls,” Daboll said. “I’m going through tons of different situations and time outs and challenges and when to go for it on fourth-down, and just reviewing the stuff that I have to do a good job of before the game. And the difference when you’re calling plays is there’s a thousand things going through your head the night before and usually during the game. So, it’s different things.”

Ceiling and floor for all 32 NFL teams | CBSSports.com

The ceiling for the Giants this year is 6-11. The Giants are expected to be bad in 2022, thanks to awful roster construction by former general manager Dave Gettleman — who left them in salary cap hell. Daniel Jones is a lame duck quarterback and Saquon Barkley appears to be on his way out after the year — no matter how well he performs.

New York is thin at wide receiver and tight end, the former filled with bloated contracts and minimal production. There’s hope the Giants are trending in the right direction with a better offensive line and a defensive line featuring Azeez Ojulari and Kayvon Thibodeaux. The Giants are beginning their rebuild in the trenches, an excellent start toward turning around the franchise.

2022 New York Giants Team Preview: Over/Under on Wins | The 33rd Team

The foundation of an over seven wins bet on the Giants is built on their very manageable schedule. When you look through their list of opponents, you’ll see these teams with sub .500 win totals: Carolina, Chicago, Jacksonville, Seattle, Houston, and Detroit. For the Eagles or Cowboys, that’s a considerable advantage. For the Giants, I don’t think anyone is an easy out. I have the Giants in the same tier as some of those teams, while being outright worse than at least one.

NFC East guide: Expectations, predictions on Eagles, Cowboys, Giants, Commanders | FOX Sports

FOX’s Ralph Vacchiano has the Giants finishing at 6-11, last place in the NFC East.

“The Giants don’t have a daunting schedule, so there’s an opportunity for them to be mediocre with just a little improvement in some key areas,” writes Vacchiano. “A lot of that obviously hinges on health, but much of it depends on Jones, too. If he’s the franchise quarterback they hope he is, the Giants can be competitive. If not, they’ll be punting toward the 2023 draft pretty early. But the ceiling for this group feels like .500. And that’s only if everything goes right. With the Giants, it rarely does.”

Another national reporter expecting big things from RB Saquon Barkley this year

Daniel Jones, Kadarius Toney and 6 more Giants entering prove-it seasons | The Athletic

The Giants have eight key players who are either playing in the final year of their contracts or whose contracts could be moved after the season: QB Daniel Jones, RB Saquon Barkley, WRs Sterling Shepard, Kenny Golladay and Kadarius Toney, DL Leonard Williams, CB Adoree’ Jackson and S Julian Love.

NFL team previews 2022 | ESPN

The Giants are ranked 28th to start the season. ESPN’s Jordan Raanan believes this really is the last opportunity for Daniel Jones to prove to the Giants that he’s their franchise quarterback. The new regime has already declined his fifth-year option, meaning Jones is a free agent at the end of the season. He has to prove on the field that he can be a consistent high-end starter. He hasn’t done that so far. No more excuses.

Giants SB Nation Reacts Survey: Week 1

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in New York Giants fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate.

This week’s opponent

Ceiling for Tennessee is to be Kings of AFC South | CBSSports.com

The ceiling for Tennessee is ruling the AFC South with an 11-6 record. Getting Derrick Henry back to full health is massive for the Titans, especially with the offseason loss of A.J. Brown significantly hurting the downfield passing game. Ryan Tannehill can still ignite an offense with Robert Woods as a game manager, but the success of the Titans rolls through Henry.

Losing Harold Landry is significant for a defense built to get after the quarterback, which could cost the Titans the division. Tennessee still has Jeffery Simmons and an underrated secondary that can hold teams to under 25 points, but will the Titans be able to keep up with opponents? Henry can carry Tennessee to a division title in a weak AFC South. He has to play all 17 games.

Giants coach Brian Daboll offering praise to King Henry

Titans name 2022 captains | Music City Miracles

QB Ryan Tannehill is coming off of the worst game of his career. He needs to be the leader of the offense. This signals that he is along with C Ben Jones and RB Derrick Henry who are both very important to the offense.

The Titans’ two best players on defense—DE Jeffery Simmons and S Kevin Byard—were named captains as well. Byard has been the leader of this secondary for a few years now. Simmons has developed into a leader for the defensive front as well. The Titans need to get an extended contract with him done.

LB Olan Adeniyi is a great special teams player and is going to be needed to contribute more on defense this year with Harold Landry going down with a torn ACL.

Josh Gordon knows there are “no promises” | ProFootballTalk

Gordon said he thinks he “might surprise a few people.”

“I am excited about another opportunity, man,” Gordon said. “Being in the NFL, it’s a blessing. I am enjoying my time here and looking forward to contributing . . . and getting ready and making sure I am available if coach needs me. I am appreciative of the opportunity I am getting here and hope to go out there and prove myself worthy to be a contributor to the team.”

Around the league

Mike Tomlin confirms Mitch Trubisky as Pittsburgh Steelers' starting QB | ESPN

Mitch Trubisky will start at quarterback for the Steelers in their Week 1 game at Cincinnati, coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday, confirming what's long been the suspected outcome of the offseason quarterback competition.

"We're just really comfortable with what Mitch has shown us," Tomlin said. "He's a guy that came to us with franchise quarterback experience. He's comfortable in those shoes. He's been the focal point of a football team, in the organization before. He's had success in doing so. Like I mentioned, when we acquired him, he took the Bears to the playoffs two out of four years. He has a winning record as a starting quarterback. Those things were attractive to us.

Patriots signing former first-round draft pick | CBSSports.com

The Patriots are signing Laquon Treadwell to their practice squad. Back in 2016, the Vikings made Treadwell the 23rd overall pick in the NFL Draft, but he only ended up lasting four seasons in Minnesota.

Thanks to the addition of Treadwell, the Patriots now have three former first-round wide receivers on their team. The other two are DeVante Parker (14th overall pick by the Dolphins in 2015) and Nelson Agholor (20th overall pick by the Eagles in 2015).

Bucs QB Tom Brady on O-line: 'I hope they take it to heart all the things that people have said about them' | NFL.com

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback is now force-feeding that motivation to his new offensive line. Brady said Monday on the first episode of the second season of SiriusXM's Let's Go! with Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray that he's using all the negative questions about his O-line to fuel his teammates.

"I've showed it to them and used it as motivation," Brady said. "Every time someone says they suck, and they can't do anything, I've tried to show it to them. And say, 'this is what they're all saying about you. What do you guys think? What are you going to do about it?' And make sure they know what everyone's saying. I think that's important. I think I've always used little different spites as motivation for me. And I'm a really motivated person. But it always helps when someone says something that's not flattering."

Eagles place Andre Dillard on injured reserve | ProFootballTalk

The Eagles will officially be without backup offensive tackle Andre Dillard for at least the next four weeks as the team placed Dillard on injured reserve on Tuesday.

Dillard suffered a fractured forearm in practice last week and was reportedly scheduled to undergo surgery on Tuesday. With the new rules for 2022, Dillard can return to the 53-man roster after a four-week stint on IR.

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