As has been the case for the last few years, the New York Giants are spending their final week leading up to the beginning of the new league year on Tuesday creating more cap space in order to create the space needed to sign their own free agents. They took two significant steps to that affect yesterday.
The big story is that the Giants got cornerback Corey Webster to agree to a straight pay cut in order to stay with the team. After a strong 2011 season, Webster played poorly throughout the 2012 season. The 31-year-old veteran was scheduled to make $7 million in 2013 in base salary.
The pay cut reduced his base salary from $7 million to $4 million, excising a clean $3 million off of the salary cap. The move lowered his salary cap hit from $9.845 million to $6.845 million.
According to the New York Daily News, the team was prepared to release Webster if he did not agree to a pay cut. Which seems to be particularly good news for him, as today the Jacksonville Jaguars have released former Giants cornerback Aaron Ross, who left the team last year via free agency.
The pay cut could also possibly reflect a new role for Webster, who was de facto the team’s number one corner for the past few seasons. The team has Prince Amukamara, a first round draft pick from two seasons ago, who played well in 2012 in his first season as a starter. In addition, they have re-signed Terrell Thomas, a corner who played very well for the team, but has missed the last two seasons with a torn ACL.
In other news, center David Baas agreed to a contract restructure that helps the team out with the 2013 salary cap—although it pushes that cap hit into the future. Baas had $3 million of his base salary in 2013 converted into a roster bonus, which spreads the cap impact of that $3 million over the length of the contract. The move saves $2 million in cap space in 2013.
The Giants are somewhere close to $9 million under the cap now, but they still need to create more room to sign their impending draft class and any of their free agents they would like to retain. The team may ask David Diehl to take a pay cut as well.
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