The Gibril Wilson Squeeze

Short version: we are not going to re-sign Gibril Wilson.

The explanation: Fact #4 below-Chicago Bears General Manager Jerry Angelo called the class of safeties in the draft “anemic.” Fact #1-With Wilson entering free agency, Dahl cut, and Butler (too slow) a liability, one would think the Giants would desperately need to hold onto the services of Wilson. But not when the price elevates. When was the last time you saw the Giants “pay up” for anything?

More than a few people still hold out hope that Gibril Wilson can somehow sign with the Giants in an 11th hour move (i.e. like O’Hara last year) if the Giants would come close to the kind of numbers he would get as a free agent. Fact #2- The talk out of the combine had more than a few (3, to be exact) unnamed teams interested in Wilson beyond the rumored teams of the Broncos and Eagles. Hmmm, let’s get this straight:

1) your own team wants you back
2) as many as FIVE other teams are interested in you once you hit free agency
3) you are considered the best safety out there in this crop of free agents
4) there is a dearth of skill coming through at the Draft in April
5) the ever-expanding salary cap has plenty of teams with plenty of money to spend

If I was Wilson’s agent, I would be telling him to go to free agency too. He is making the right move. The Giants organization does not chase players, and this is a chase all right. Wilson got his ring, and we return to the scene of the George B. Young crime: it is all about the money. The Giants never truly succumbed to the economic reality of last year’s jump in the cap from the Collective Bargaining Agreement. And they are not willing to swallow that medicine again this year (not yet at least) when free agency begins at the stroke of midnight. By winning the Super Bowl, why should they? They view themselves as right for not going wild in free agency last year. The only problem with this logic is that Wilson is a good ‘team’ player who will get paid. And if the Giants make a mistake of not paying “enough” to keep him… WHERE ENOUGH=FAIR, then that is a mistake. My read on the situation is simply that what the market ends up going to will be determined by the Giants as mildly extreme.

The Giants are a conservative organization. They do not set prices, they join the price when it is set. As an example of this, the Giants always like to wait until the 16th or 17th pick in the draft has done his contract, as well as the 20th pick, so that they can THEN set the contract for their 19th pick. One of these other alleged five teams with interest in Wilson will go after him, the Giants will watch, and Wilson will get his money elsewhere.