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How Much Cash Giants Might Spend in 2023 Free Agency?

Over the Cap came up with a rough estimate of how much cash the Giants will need to spend in 2023.

The New York Giants finally have a healthy cap situation for second-year general manager Joe Schoen to work with.

But Schoen, who has made no secret of his desire to build the roster via the draft and to use free agency sparingly, isn't expected to go crazy with free agency spending, according to Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap.

In the CBA ratified in 2020, NFL teams are required to spend at least 90 percent of the salary cap each year within specific three- or four-year periods, with one of those periods being from 2021 to 2023.

In looking at what teams spent during the 2021-2022 seasons, Fitzgerald found that the Giants spent $399,418,796 in 2021-2022. He then estimated that in 2023, the Giants would need to spend approximately $128,847,848 in cash payouts (29th league-wide) to meet the criteria.

Cash payouts vary from cap numbers in that cash, as the term implies, is what is handed to a player in any given year. However, for accounting purposes, certain cash payouts, such as signing and option bonuses, are prorated accordingly to allow teams to have more manageable cap numbers.

If the Giants meet that estimate, Fitzgerald projects the team will have paid out an estimated $528,266,644 in total cash payouts over the three years, thus meeting the 90 percent threshold of the estimated $554 million cash flow over three seasons.