Now that John Harbaugh is officially on board as head coach of the New York Giants, details about the club’s offseason plans are reportedly coming into focus with an emphasis on players he is familiar with.
Per SNY’s Connor Hughes, the Giants are expected to be “aggressive” in free agency, with an expected emphasis on former Baltimore Ravens who are available because Harbaugh “wants people who know his way to carry out his message in locker room.”
Hughes specifically cited Ravens center Tyler Linderbaum as a player who could end up with the Giants.
Harbaugh was named head coach of the Giants on Saturday after agreeing to a five-year deal. The deal came together quickly following the Ravens’ decision to fire him on Jan. 6.
Even though Joe Schoen remains in his position as general manager of the Giants, Harbaugh figures to have a significant influence on all aspects of the organization since his part of his deal is that he will report directly to ownership.
The Athletic’s Dennis Dugan noted that before Harbaugh and the Giants got a deal done, the organization has historically used a traditional chain of command with the head coach reporting to the GM, who reports to ownership.
Adding a new voice to the decision-making process can’t be bad for a Giants team coming off a two-year stretch with a 7-27 record. It helps that Harbaugh has a strong track record of success from his 18 seasons with the Ravens.
It will be interesting to see how dramatically New York’s roster changes in the offseason. The Giants’ effective cap space for 2026 currently sits at $8.3 million over the projected cap. There are several players who don’t have any guaranteed money remaining on their contracts, including Bobby Okereke, Jon Runyan Jr., James Hudson, Devin Singletary and Graham Gano.
Releasing each of those five players would save the Giants around $33 million against the projected cap to free up money for someone like Linderbaum.
Linderbaum has expressed an interest in remaining with the Ravens, but using the franchise tag could be untenable for them because it counts all offensive linemen as one group. The projected tag value for an offensive lineman is $27.2 million, which is almost $10 million more than the highest current average annual salary for a center.
Other notable Ravens players set to hit free agency include Dre’Mont Jones, Alohi Gilman, Ar’Darius Washington and Isaiah Likely.
Linderbaum is an obvious fit for the Giants because they could use help on the interior, but they would also seem interested in working out a new deal with pending free agent Jermaine Eluemunor after he had a breakout season at right tackle.
There is plenty of time for Harbaugh and his staff to figure out everything they want to do before free agency begins, but they don’t need to limit themselves while trying to build up a roster with young talent that needs to be fleshed out around the nucleus of Jaxson Dart, Malik Nabers, Cam Skattebo, Brian Burns and Abdul Carter.