Potential Signing Issues for Giants Remaining 2013 Draft Picks: As a precursor to this article, I recommend reading A Primer on Some Rookie Contract Negotiating Sticking Points, by Jason Fitzgerald at overthecap.com. Jason’s site is in my opinion the premier source for information on the salary cap.

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Now, on to New York Giants business. Five of the Giants’ seven 2013 draft picks from last month’s draft have signed contracts with the Giants. They are as follows:

  • 2nd round pick, Johnathan Hankins, DT (Ohio State)
  • 3rd round pick, Damontre Moore , DE (Texas A&M)
  • 5th round pick, Cooper Taylor, S (Richmond)
  • 7th round pick, Michael Cox, RB (Massachusetts)
  • 7th round pick, Eric Herman, OG (Ohio)

The New York Giants’ remaining unsigned 2013 NFL Draft picks are as follows:

  • 1st round pick, Justin Pugh, OT/OG (Syracuse)
  • 4th round pick, Ryan Nassib, QB (Syracuse)

What are the issues with the New York Giants?

We should see a relatively quick resolution for the remaining unsigned players since their salaries are basically slotted. Jason Fitzgerald points out in the article above that picks 17 to 22 will have only a partially guaranteed salary in the 4th year of their deals. This is applicable to Justin Pugh since he was the 19th overall pick in the first round.

The issue with 4th round pick Ryan Nassib will be salary splits. Salary splits are essentially protection for the club if the player in question winds up on Injured Reserve. What happens is that players get paid less than their base salary of $405,000 if they get hurt. It applies differently to players in rounds 3 through 7. The players drafted in round 3 will have less of an issue to deal with regarding splits than their counterparts drafted in round 7.

Players drafted in round 7, like Eric Herman (who signed on May 22nd), will have to deal with salary splits for both the full 2013 and 2014 seasons, whereas a player drafted in the 3rd round, like Damontre Moore, will probably only deal with the possibility of a salary split for the preseason of his rookie year, in 2013. Basically, a guy like Moore is in a better position to deal with getting his full salary if he’s injured than a guy like Herman. If a player like Herman gets hurt in the regular season of his rookie year, like last year’s 7th round pick did (Markus Kuhn), the salary split would be in effect. This would mean that he’d get less than his base salary. Jason points out the figure of $288,000 in the article above as the number that a salary would be reduced to if a split is in effect. This is cut and dry with a guy like Herman, which is why his deal didn’t take long to get reached. Herman really had no ground to stand on when it came to negotiating his rookie contract; however, 4th round pick Ryan Nassib, is another issue.

Jason points out in the subsection of the article above titled “Split Salaries” that players drafted in the 4th round, like Nassib “should fight hard for only having a split salary in 2013 rather than both years. This doesn’t mean it will happen but it’s worth an extra day or two of ‘fighting with the team.'” This is probably why he hasn’t signed yet. The idea that Nassib probably thinks that he should have been picked in a higher round might also play into his agent’s negotiating with the Giants’ Kevin Abrams regarding salary splits for 2013 and 2014. Nassib’s agent will probably only argue for 2013, whereas the Giants might argue for both 2013 and 2014, or something along those lines. Either way, none of this should linger. I’d be surprised if Nassib isn’t signed in the next couple of weeks, unless he has issues at school. Pugh’s agent might wait a little longer before his client signs on the dotted line (sometime in June at the latest), but that shouldn’t be an issue either, especially since he has a good chance to start on this year’s offensive line.

Optimus-NY is a self-taught student of the ins and outs of the NFL Salary cap. If you have any questions about New York Giants salary cap issues or the NFL salary cap in general, e-mail him at [email protected]. Questions and responses may be published.