The relationship between the New York Giants and Markus Golden took another turn recently, when the club made the rare decision to use the unrestricted free agent (UFA) tender on the veteran pass rusher. This still allows Golden -- who remains unsigned at the moment -- to continue negotiating freely with other teams, but guarantees he'll be in a Giants uniform if he fails to secure a deal by July 22, whether he likes it or not. And should he join another organization prior to that date, while the ship has likely sailed on the Giants landing a compensatory pick in 2021 for him leaving, the tender makes Golden a bit less attractive to other clubs; and mainly because he'd still factor into their respective comp pick formula.
So, yes, the Giants effectively used the UFA tender to tilt the field in their favor when it comes to reacquiring Golden, a player they didn't strike a deal with early in the offseason and opted to pass on using a more expensive franchise or transition tag on, which would've guaranteed him a salary of $15.828 million or $13.767 million, respectively. Instead, if he's forced back to the Giants, he'll earn just $4.125 million in 2020, something Golden would likely be very displeased with.
The situation is also made that much more intriguing when considering head coach Joe Judge -- who's been with the team since January 8 -- hasn't spoken with Golden yet, but as the 2020 NFL Draft comes to a close and the calendar prepares to turn to May, he's now champing at the bit to finally do so.
"Obviously, we think he's a talented player," Judge said, via SNY.com. "He's been a great locker room guy. I have a lot of respect for him from afar -- I haven't worked with him in person yet."
And as far as why they waved off applying more pricey tags to the team's leading pass rusher, while making the decision to use the most expensive one on a struggling and disgruntled Leonard Williams?
Judge says it was the best decision for the Giants.
"We did what we thought was best for the team in terms of using tags," he explained. "And that's kind of how things are allocated through the CBA and [how] the league works. At this point now we're exploring a lot of options for roster additions. It's a fluid process throughout the year."
The timing of the UFA tender isn't coincidental. It was not only executed just ahead of the league's compensatory pick deadline, but also after the Giants finalized their draft haul. They loaded up at the linebacker position with four separate selections, but three of the four were in the seventh round, with the other being in the sixth. The chances of those flyers making an impact in the near future similar to Golden's explosion last season of 10 sacks is exceedingly low, which no doubt also factored into why Judge is now ready to sit down with the former second-round pick.
Earlier in the offseason, Golden expressed interest in possibly returning, but no deal was struck. They now have until late July to work out a long-term contract, but if Golden can't secure another deal elsewhere by the July 22 deadline, he'll have no choice but to either return to New York having lost tens of millions of dollars in possible earnings for 2020 -- or he'll have to sit out the entire season.
"I'm not gonna go into the contract part of it," Judge said. "I'm excited about the prospect of talking to Markus [and] see where it goes from there."
