The situation surrounding Giants receiver Kenny Golladay could come to a head soon.
The highly paid pass catcher is expected to be active for tonight's game against the Cowboys, hoping for more productivity than he has provided during the first two weeks and another chance to show New York's new coaching staff that he can get it done.
If it doesn't happen against Dallas, and if the storyline regarding his playing time loudly continues, there are options.
Among them: The Giants could trade Golladay to an interested party, and likely the only way it would work is if New York pays the bulk of his contract in exchange for a late-round pick, sources say. That is a possibility.
Through today's game, sources say Golladay has been great inside the building. He does all the right things and has been a positive influence in the locker room. When he's spoken, he's been honest but not bombastic.
Golladay played just two snaps last week, while fourth-year receiver David Sills played 67. In the view of the coaches and those making decisions, Sills is more deserving of playing time, as he gains more separation in his routes than Golladay.
"I should be playing regardless, that's a fact," Golladay told reporters flatly this week.
Coach Brian Daboll responded, "I have a great respect for Kenny. I'm glad he's (un)happy that he didn't play -- shows competitiveness. But he's been a pro. And we'll see how it goes this week."
As of now, the situation is tenable. If Golladay becomes disgruntled or his relationship with New York becomes more of a problem, the Giants may take action. A release would be a last resort.
A trade, however, is possible. Simply, the Giants would eat much of the salary, allowing another team to trade for an effectively low-cost Golladay.
To be sure, it's been a disappointing tenure for Golladay, who arrived under the old regime with a four-year, $72 million deal in 2021. He had just 37 catches for 521 yards with zero TDs last year and has just two catches for 22 yards so far this campaign.
In fact, there is a chance the Giants would have cut Golladay prior to this season. Except they couldn't.
Golladay had $10 million of his $17.75 million 2022 salary fully guaranteed at signing, but an additional $4.5 million of it became fully guaranteed on the first day of the 2022 league year -- which meant the Giants didn't have an opportunity to release him prior to $14.5 million being fully guaranteed.
The timing of the additional $4.5 million guarantee is extremely rare. Typically, teams structure guarantees to become fully guaranteed on the third or fifth day of the league year so the team has an opportunity to release an underperforming player prior to the guarantee kicking in.
In Golladay's case, not only did that $4.5 million guarantee kick in on the first day of the league year, but an additional $3 million of 2022 salary and $4.5 million of 2023 salary became fully guaranteed on the third day of the 2022 league year, too.
The Giants may have looked to move on from Golladay with only $10 million guaranteed, but they didn't have that opportunity as it became $14.5 million fully guaranteed beforehand. So they kept him.
What's next? The Giants will be on the hook for $40 million unless they can find a trade partner. If they do find one, that new team would take on whatever salary is left this year and $4.5 million guaranteed next season.
Complicated, but the Giants do potentially have a way out of it. Unless Golladay begins to perform and then it all becomes moot.
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