Giants DE Leonard Williams To Play Out Season Under Franchise Tag

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the Giants and DE Leonard Williams plan to have him play out the 2020 season under the franchise tag. 

Rapoport says the hope is that Williams excels in their new system and becomes a “big part” of the team’s future. 

According to Rapoport, the Giants and Williams are both “on the same page” about this. 

The franchise tag will cost the Giants between $16.126-$17.788 million fully guaranteed, depending on whether he’s considered a defensive end or a defensive tackle. 

There had been some talk of the Giants possibly using the transition tag on Williams, which would have allowed him to test the open market with New York retaining the ability to match an offer he received from another team. However, the Giants opted to franchise him instead. 

Williams, 26, is a former first-round pick of the Jets back in 2015. He was in the final year of a four-year, $18.6 million rookie contract and was set to earn a base salary of $2,975,574 in 2018 when the Jets picked up his fifth-year option last April.

Williams made a base salary of $14.2 million for the 2019 season and was now in line to be an unrestricted free agent again in 2021.

In 2019, Williams appeared in 15 games for the Giants and Jets and recorded 46 tackles, 0.5 sacks, one forced fumble and three pass defenses. He was rated by Pro Football Focus as the No. 36 interior defender out of 114 qualifying players.