EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – The New York Giants and striker Leonard Williams are working on a long-term deal as the franchise term approaches, sources told ESPN. The deadline is at 4 pm Eastern time on Tuesday.
Both parties would like to do something, but the franchise brand is the most likely option as a replacement if they don’t arrive on time. The brand (for the second consecutive year) is a mechanism to ensure that Williams remains a giant after a better season in his career, where he finished with 11.5 sacks and 30 strikes from defenders, good for third place in the NFL. Its 41 quarterback pressures were the seventh among interior defense attackers, according to NextGen Stats.
Williams, 26, played for the franchise brand last season for $ 16.126 million. A second tag would cost 120% of last year’s number, or $ 19.351 million.
The sixth year player has an unresolved complaint with the NFLPA, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler recently reported. It is a discrepancy as to whether he should have been listed as a defensive back or tackle. If he were the first, his salary in 2020 would have been $ 17.8 million. That would make his second tag later worth $ 21.4 million.
Regardless, especially with the Giants against the cap, a long-term deal is the goal with Williams. He is their priority this off-season.
Williams was his best pass-rusher last season by a wide margin, producing more center-back strikes than the rest of the team’s attackers combined.
It was a big turnaround for the previous choice of the New York Jets in their first full season with the Giants. He prospered under coach Joe Judge and in the defensive system of coordinator Patrick Graham.
Williams was credited with half a sack the previous season, which he split between the Giants and the Jets. It was the most recent in some unspectacular five years in the NFL, after being the USC’s sixth overall selection in the 2015 NFL draft.
The Giants even traded a couple of intermediate draft choices for Williams in the middle of the 2019 season, just a few months before he became a free agent. They put the franchise brand on it last season.
Williams proved that he is worth his 2020 salary – and more – as one of football’s most productive defensive strikers. He produced the first double-digit sack season of his career, with his previous record being seven in 2016.
In his career, Williams added 299 tackles and 29 sacks.