The AFC Champion New England Patriots give the Giants hope of a quick turnaround in Year 1 of John Harbaugh’s tenure.
The Patriots recovered from a 4-13 season in 2024 to reach Super Bowl LX in just one year.
They did it primarily by hiring Mike Vrabel as head coach to replace the fired Jerod Mayo, bringing Josh McDaniels back as offensive coordinator and facilitating first-round quarterback Drake Maye’s development into an MVP candidate in his second season.
This gives hope to the Giants that their return to relevance from a 7-27 record the past two seasons won’t take forever — and might even happen quickly.
One year after the Patriots’ facelift, the Giants also have hired a respected head coach in Harbaugh to replace the fired Brian Daboll, and they are excited about first-round quarterback Jaxson Dart’s growth in his second season under new offensive coordinator Matt Nagy.
With Monday signaling the unofficial start of NFL free agency, however, it is important to note that there is one major difference between the 2025 Patriots and 2026 Giants: Salary cap space.
Room to add a ton of new players.
The Patriots held the most cap space in the entire league, more than $110 million, when Vrabel took over the team last year. On top of holding the No. 4 overall pick to draft offensive tackle Will Campbell.
This year’s Giants by contrast were $300,000 over the cap in effective cap space as of 2 p.m. Friday, which ranked 26th out of the NFL’s 32 teams. That means there were 25 teams with more money available to upgrade their teams once the NFL factors in the salaries of each club’s draft classes this coming April.
So they hold the No. 5 pick in the draft but have the salary cap of a team that should have been in the playoffs.
This does not mean the Giants won’t upgrade their team in the coming days. They will.
Friday’s decision to retain running back Devin Singletary on a pay cut to reduce his $6.5 million scheduled cap hit is one example of how they will be able to fit new pieces: By adjusting contracts of incumbent players.
Linebacker Bobby Okereke’s release this week to save $9 million was done to accomplish the same thing (perhaps Singletary is sticking around in case Cam Skattebo’s rehab takes some time).
Senior vice president Dawn Aponte, who is now running the salary cap, can get more creative than the Giants have in the past to fit in contracts, too.
Expect Harbaugh to pursue a starting corner, an offensive guard and an inside linebacker at the very least — in addition to upgrades or reinforcements at the skill positions and in the kicking game.
He would do well to attack the interior defensive line’s talent and depth next to Dexter Lawrence, as well.
Not having significant cap space does mean, though, that doing a 180-degree turnaround like the Patriots feels like an unrealistic expectation for this year’s Giants team.
The Patriots used last year’s cap space to sign star defensive tackle Milton Williams, who became their best defensive player, and wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who became Maye’s top receiver. They signed veterans corner Carlton Davis II and offensive tackle Morgan Moses.
They inked linebackers Robert Spillane and Jack Gibbens and re-signed linebacker Christian Elliss. They added edges K’Lavon Chaisson and Harold Landry. They brought in wideout Mack Hollins.
This wasn’t just pulling off the wallpaper and repainting the house. This was closer to knocking down the old one and building new.
The Giants aren’t in position to do this in part because of last year’s free agent spending by GM Joe Schoen.
Starting corner Paulson Adebo $24.1 million (second-highest cap hit on team), starting safety Jevon Holland $18.5 million (fifth), starting receiver Darius Slayton $15.9 million (sixth), backup offensive tackle James Hudson $7.6 million (11th) and backup defensive lineman Chauncey Golston $6.9 million (12th) all carry significant cap charges in 2026.
The team could save more than $5 million by cutting Hudson, and those players maybe will play better in 2026. But that’s a ton invested in a group of players that did not deliver results in 2025 and is largely locked in for this season.
As Harbaugh’s pursuit of Chiefs corner Trent McDuffie demonstrated, however, although the Rams beat the Giants out for that player, the Giants are also engaging in the trade market.
Edge rusher Kavyon Thibodeaux could be a valuable piece for this Giants roster in 2026 if he sticks around. But trading him also would clear the $14.7 million cap hit of his fifth-year option off the books entirely.
So there is a chance he could be traded, perhaps in a player-for-player and picks deal, to help Harbaugh clean up the books while also upgrading a more glaring weakness elsewhere.
Whatever the Giants do, they’re going to have to get creative. And they’re going to have to keep an eye on the long-term.
Because Harbaugh’s immediate charge is to make the Giants a more difficult team to play against. But in the big picture, he is here to make them annual contenders again. And that usually takes time.
The Patriots had the resources to do it quickly. The Giants might require a little more patience.
