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

A look at why the Giants' $9 million in cap space isn't as much as you might think ...

1. It will likely cost the Giants around $7 million just to tender their restricted free agents -- Victor Cruz will almost certainly get the first-round tender ($2.879 million). I wouldn’t be shocked if they gave safety Stevie Brown and running back Andre Brown second-round tenders ($2.023 million each). That would be a total of $6.925 million. And it’s not much less if they give an original-round tender ($1.323 million) to either Brown instead. … And those count as soon as the tenders are issued. So the Giants have to have the cap space for them by Tuesday at 4 p.m. 2.The Giants will probably need about $5 million for draft picks -- The good news is they don’t need this immediately. They won’t need it, in fact, until draft picks begin signing in May, June or July. But the Giants’ rookie pool number probably will be around $4.5 to $5.5 million, depending on how many picks they end up with in the draft. 3.They still need to re-sign or replace Martellus Bennett and Kevin Boothe – Those two appear to be the two remaining UFAs the Giants hope to re-sign before the market opens on Tuesday. Boothe seems like more of a possibility than Bennett and if he doesn’t re-sign it’s possible the Giants will go with a young player on their roster, maybe move David Diehl to guard, or possibly look for a bargain free agent. Bennett cost $2.5 million in cap space last season. It’s not unreasonable to believe a new contract for him (or a replacement) would cost $2 million at least again. There’s more, too. Maybe a new kicker, a replacement for Kenny Phillips and Chase Blackburn, etc. … But just what I listed above is about $14 million in cap space – about $5 million more than the Giants currently have. The good news? Cap space can always be created as the need arises. There are plenty more contracts that could be restructured in the coming days/weeks/months.