The New York Giants are facing a high-stakes season in 2025. With their head coach, Brian Daboll, and general manager, Joe Schoen, presumably on the hot set, New York will need to show meaningful growth and the ability to pull together a lot of new pieces quickly. 

It can be easier said than done. The Giants, fresh off an aggressive offseason, could theoretically help themselves with another free agent signing or two to potentially tie their personnel together once training camp gets rolling — if they decide they want to open up the salary cap space to spend. 

New York currently sits at under $4 million in cap space according to the NFLPA's daily cap report. If they did want to sign any new players, they may need to create some cap space to do so ahead of the regular season. 

Here are New York's five quickest and best options to create spending power for training camp, if they needed it. 

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New York Giants five fastest paths to salary cap savings

Restructuring Dexter Lawrence – $9.886 million in savings

Lawrence is in the prime of his career and at the height of his powers. He's New York's dominating presence in the heart of the defense and he's also owed $15.5 million in base salary this season with three years remaining on his current contract. This is the perfect combination — an elite player, multiple contract years remaining, and a large lump sum of cash owed that can be converted into a bonus and spread out across the remaining years on his contract. 

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Make another withdraw from the Bank of Brian Burns – $4.185 million in savings

The Giants already converted $16.6 million of Burns' 2025 compensation into a restructure bonus in May, a move that bought the team $10 million in cap space and allowed them to sign star draft pick Abdul Carter. But they left $6.25 million of his compensation as base salary for this year, leaving even more wiggle room if they wanted to tap into it. And because they've already shown an appetite for moving money around in this contract, perhaps this would be the first place they'd go if they needed more spending power in 2025.

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Restructure OL Jon Runyan Jr. – $4.04 million in savings

Runyan Jr. is an established starter on the offensive line who was a part of the team's overhaul here last year. He should be considered a sufficient-level starter at guard and he's got a fair blend of the same variables that we've identified as attractive variables for restructures. He's got $9 million in compensation scheduled this year as a base salary and is under contract through the end of the 2026 season, meaning New York could nearly split his cash commitments in half from a bookkeeping perspective. 

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Extend OL Jermaine Eluemunor –  TBD in savings, $9.19 million current cap charge

Eluemunor has become a viable starting offensive tackle in the last three seasons, which he's split between Las Vegas (2022-2023) and New York (2024). He offers position flexibility and good power in the run game. Eluemunor, who turns 31 years old in December, is entering into a contract year and owed nearly $6 million in base salary. If the Giants extended Eluemunor, even by a single year, they could cut a few million dollars off of his 2025 cap charge.

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Trade QB Jameis Winston – $2.0 million in savings

If we're being honest, the Winston signing in hindsight does feel like overkill. I understand why it needed to happen for New York, there was no guarantee they'd successfully navigate the 2025 NFL Draft waters cleanly and land their quarterback of the future. But they did. And with Russell Wilson pencilled in as the starter and Jaxson Dart being groomed to start, I can only imagine that Dart would be the next man up, giving New York a chance to "buy" a late draft pick if they could find someone looking to upgrade their backup situation via Winston. 

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The New York Giants' 2025 rookie class is crucial to their potential long-term success. From their duo of first round picks, Abdul Carter and Jaxson Dart, to their duo of seventh round picks, Thomas Fidone II and Korie Black, the team is betting on their youth.  Their rookie class includes more than just players they drafted, though, […]