Ralph Vacchiano's post on New York Giants | Latest updates on Sulia

Why will the Giants “probably not” use the “franchise tag” as John Mara said? Easy. It’s all in the math …

The Giants are approximately $5 million under the projected salary cap of $121.1 million – a number I get from my own math, though at least one knowledgeable source tells me the number is closer to $4 million under. As I mentioned a few days ago, the cost of franchising T Will Beatty is about $9.7 million, the cost of franchising TE Martellus Bennett is about $6 million and the cost of franchising S Kenny Phillips is about $6.8 million. The Giants are almost certainly going to give restricted free agent Victor Cruz a “first round” tender, which will cost $2.9 million. Presumably they will give a “second round” tender (at least) to S Stevie Brown ($2 million) and possibly that much to running back Andre Brown, if they don’t give him an “original round” tender ($1.3 million). That means before free agency opens on March 12, they’ll have spent somewhere between $6.2 and $6.9 million on their own RFAs alone. And they'll need to make more cuts just to afford that. Then, among their own unrestricted free agents, they’ll need to re-sign or replace their starting left tackle (Beatty), left guard (Kevin Boothe) and tight end (Bennett). And they have some interest in bringing back Phillips and LB Chase Blackburn at the right price, too. Plus, they might need a kicker to compete with David Buehler if they don’t re-sign Lawrence Tynes. And they’ll need a linebacker to replace Michael Boley (and possibly Blackburn) and possible replacements at other positions, too. They’ll probably need $20-25 million in cap space just to do all that. And with the need to clear another $15 million or so in cap space, they can’t lock themselves into “franchise tags” worth $6-10 million. If they want Beatty, Bennett or Phillips back, they’ll need to sign them to a cap-friendly long-term deal. #NYG