July 8, 2013 NFL Salary Cap Update: Here are the NFL salary cap space rankings for all 32 teams in the league as of Monday morning, July 8, 2013. The New York Giants are $3,308,682 under the NFL salary cap as of this date:

Click on column to sort

CAP SPACE RANKTEAMPREVIOUS YEAR CARRYOVERTOTAL CAP SPACE
10Arizona$3,600,110.00 $10,640,331.00
20Atlanta$307,540.00 $6,299,287.00
21Baltimore$1,182,377.00 $6,049,823.00
5Buffalo$9,817,628.00 $18,665,064.00
12Carolina$3,654,825.00 $9,716,115.00
30Chicago$3,236,965.00 $1,637,767.00
4Cincinnati$8,579,575.00 $19,967,981.00
1Cleveland$14,339,575.00 $31,739,610.00
15Dallas$2,335,379.00 $8,124,208.00
9Denver$11,537,924.00 $10,697,563.00
29Detroit$466,992.00 $1,894,653.00
8Green Bay$7,010,832.00 $16,327,631.00
28Houston$2,422,689.00 $2,808,949.00
18Indianapolis$3,500,000.00 $6,935,290.00
2Jacksonville$19,563,231.00 $23,035,816.00
25Kansas City$14,079,650.00 $3,562,128.00
7Miami$5,380,246.00 $17,635,103.00
17Minnesota$8,004,734.00 $7,011,654.00
14New England$5,607,914.00 $9,215,519.00
22New Orleans$2,700,000.00 $5,173,260.00
26NY Giants$1,000,000.00 $3,308,682.00
11NY Jets$3,400,000.00 $9,964,235.00
16Oakland$4,504,761.00 $7,628,004.00
3Philadelphia$23,046,035.00 $22,466,188.00
23Pittsburgh$758,811.00 $4,403,813.00
27San Diego$995,893.00 $3,127,666.00
19San Francisco$859,734.00 $6,423,721.00
24Seattle$13,265,802.00 $3,712,328.00
32St. Louis$247,347.00 $214,088.00
6Tampa Bay$8,527,866.00 $18,278,471.00
13Tennessee$12,867,893.00 $9,245,356.00
31Washington$4,270,296.00 $1,413,440.00

What can we look forward to between now and the start of training camp?

There are 18 days left until the start of training camp on July 26th, and there are exactly 59 days left until the Top 51 rule expires on Thursday, September 5th at 12:00 am New York time.

The Giants are reportedly thisclose to signing Victor Cruz before the start of training camp. The odds are that both sides will officially come to terms at the last minute on July 24th or 25th, so that Cruz’s agent (Tom Condon, also the agent for Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning) can get as much as he possibly can out of the Giants before the team  is allowed to fine Cruz $30,000 per day for missing training camp if he doesn’t report on time on July 26th. They’ll likely get it done by then, rendering the possibility of fines moot. Cruz is patiently playing this as expected so far, as are the Giants.

The Giants will also need to sign their remaining two unsigned draft picks (1st rounder Justin Pugh, and 4th rounder Ryan Nassib). Approximately 87% of the draft picks in the league have signed contracts as of June 30th, 8 days ago according to this tweet by Ralph Vacchiano:

Here are the contract figures for most of these players from overthecap.com.

These two rookie deals should be finalized before the start of training camp, with Pugh’s deal being the only one of the two to have an effect on the team’s salary cap now since we’re still in the Top 51 phase of salary cap accounting. Both will eventually count against the Giants’ cap though once the Top 51 rule expires on September 5th since Nassib is a shoe-in to make the team, pending an act of God, or a season-ending injury during the preseason thereby causing his salary to split.

I would also expect to see a move made by the club with respect to clearing more space under the salary cap before the Cruz signing is announced. I’d expect to see a restructure done to either punter Steve Weatherford’s contract (which ends after the 2016 season) and/or Eli Manning’s contract at some point within the next three weeks. This would allow more space for the Cruz signing and to give the Giants the added cap space that they need in order to cover regular season expenses. If Eli’s deal is restructured now, then you can bet your bottom dollar that his contract – which ends after the 2015 season – will be extended in 2014 in order to make more room for Cruz and Nicks, and in anticipation of JPP’s unrestricted free agency in 2016.

To keep informed of the latest salary cap news as it impacts the Giants, follow my Giants salary cap blog (nygcapcentral.com), or me on Twitter (@NYGCapCentral) as the offseason continues, and we head into training camp and the preseason. It is likely that we will see  more cap moves made, not only by the Giants, but the entire league. Some clubs that are approximately $5 million or less under the cap now still need to clear up more room in order to sign some of their remaining first round picks and prepare for additional regular season operational expenses starting on September 5th. These regular season operational expenses include the following:

  • 52nd and 53rd players on the 53-man roster
  • the Practice Squad
  • players on Injured Reserve
  • the PUP list
  • additional Dead money incurred in training camp as the result of cuts
  • grievances & injury settlements
  • extra money (“fudge money”) needed in case of emergencies during the regular season

Check out this YouTube video by Jason Fitzgerald from overthecap.com which gives an excellent synopsis of how the salary cap works, particularly this section (starting at the 33:06 mark to the 34:42 mark) which describes what I just mentioned above with respect to how the salary cap rules change once the Top 51 rule ceases:

We will also likely see the remaining free agents of note, like fullback Vonta Leach and defensive end John Abraham, sign with teams that have cap room to spare. Check out the following lists of remaining free agents:

You can keep an eye on the Salary Cap as it continues to change here (NFLPA Top 51 League Cap Report). We’re going to see more moves made to the Giants’ roster, as noted above (the signings of Pugh, Nassib; new deal for Cruz; & the very likely restructures for Eli and/or Weatherford). Here are the cap numbers for almost every player on the Giants’ roster as of this time, courtesy of overthecap.com:

The fact that Tom Condon is the agent for Victor Cruz and Eli Manning (as well Tom Coughlin incidentally) is an important factor to keep in consideration as contract negotiations take place and are then put in effect through the supposedly soon-to-be-made announcement with regard to Cruz’s new deal, and the probable contract restructuring of Eli’s contract that would be needed to help make more room for Cruz, and give the Giants the cap-breathing room they’ll need once the Top 51 Rule ceases on September 5th, heading into the regular season.