It must be refreshing for NY Giants fans to have a general manager in charge of their favorite team who gets it.
Big Blue is off this week after losing to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 8 to fall to 6-2. While New York didn’t make any significant acquisitions at the trade deadline, they’re still in a good spot moving forward. One of the tricky things for any executive is threading the needle between thinking about today and planning for the future.
Schoen recently mentioned he’d spend part of the Giants’ bye investigating the possibility of extending core players. Obviously, the first thought here would be for both Saquon Barkley and Daniel Jones. They’re two important pieces to the Giants’ 2022 puzzle, but they aren’t the only ones.
According to Pat Leonard of the Daily News, New York has had conversations with the representation for safety Julian Love:
The Giants & safety Julian Love’s reps have had conversations about a contract extension, according to a source.
Love, 24, a 2019 4th round pick from Notre Dame, is a captain, an indispensable player & pending UFA
Joe Schoen wants to get any in-season extensions done this week pic.twitter.com/F1xwnt0zmn
— Pat Leonard (@PLeonardNYDN) November 3, 2022
This is the type of stuff you just love to see from the New York Football Giants. What Schoen said earlier this week could’ve easily just been some lip service. In the middle of the season, not many would’ve blamed him for not making any real financial moves for the team’s future.
But from Leonard’s report, Schoen is putting action behind his words. For any executive or professional athlete who’s spent time in the New York media market, that’s probably the most important thing to do.
Schoen had already made some moves earlier this season to alleviate the Giants’ current salary cap situation. It included restructuring Leonard Williams’ contract and having Darius Slayton accept a pay cut. This year’s salary cap is tight, but it becomes more flexible beyond this season and looking into the future. Even with that anticipated flexibility, there’s value for a front office in having cost certainty for its core players heading into an offseason.
Schoen did say he’d like to wrap up any negotiations by Monday so players can focus on preparing the Houston Texas in Week 10. He could get some things done, but there’s a good chance nothing does. Even if no extensions get agreed to, the foundation is laid for the offseason. Instead of having to be reactive, the Giants can be more proactive than in years past.
And that is a beautiful thing.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
