With the New York Giants barely treading water financially and the need to clear salary cap space, general manager Joe Schoen stayed true to his word on Monday.
The team has restructured the contract of veteran defensive lineman and team captain, Leonard Williams.
Heard the long-awaited Leonard Williams restructure got done today. Don't have the terms yet. Will be interesting to see how much money the Giants pushed into the future with void years (if any).
— Dan Duggan (@DDuggan21) September 6, 2022
Williams is entering the second year of a three-year, $63 million deal he signed with the Giants in 2021. He was scheduled to receive a base salary of $19 million and account for a cap hit of $27.3 million, the most of any player on the team (13.21% of the team’s total cap spend).
Duggan also noted that the restructure did not include any sort of extension. However, it did include a void year.
In total, the Giants will clear just under $12 million in 2022 cap space by converting $17.88 million of Williams’ base salary into a signing bonus.
The Giants have converted $17.88M of DL Leonard Williams' base salary into a signing bonus (while adding a void year), creating $11.92M in 2022 cap space.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) September 6, 2022
The 28-year-old Williams is one of the few feathers in former general manager Dave Gettleman’s cap. Despite heavy criticism of the 2019 trade, Williams has arguably become the Giants’ best and most consistent player. He was also the only Giant named to the NFL’s Top 100 Players of 2022.
