Giants Open To Trading Kenny Golladay?

A Kenny Golladay-Giants divorce will almost certainly take place before the 2023 season, but the team’s new regime appears open to severing ties with the high-priced Dave Gettleman-era pickup earlier.

The Giants trading Golladay before the Nov. 1 deadline is not off the table, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com notes. This would be a financially difficult transaction for the Giants, but Rapoport adds the team taking on most of Golladay’s contract would be the only way a trade would go down. The former Lions Pro Bowler has fallen well out of favor with the Giants, leading to some notable developments leading up to Big Blue’s Week 3 tilt tonight.

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After Golladay played extensively in the Giants’ Week 1 game in Tennessee, Brian Daboll drastically reduced his workload. The sixth-year receiver played just two snaps in Week 2, leading Golladay to say he is confused by the situation and “should be playing regardless.” The two-time Detroit 1,000-yard pass catcher underwhelmed in his Giants debut. He might be with a third team before this season ends, but this would be an unusual trade to complete.

Golladay signed a four-year, $72MM contract during the 2021 free agency period; that deal was by far the most lucrative pact given to a wide receiver on last year’s COVID-19-affected market. The 28-year-old pass catcher saw the downward momentum created by an injury-plagued 2020 slate follow him to New York; he finished with just 37 receptions for 521 yards and no touchdowns in 2021. The outside receiver joined other Giants in a poor passing attack, with coaching and quarterback play undoubtedly lowering wideouts’ ceilings on last season’s woeful squad. But Golladay has not turned his career around under Daboll.

Last year’s big-ticket accord featured $10MM of Golladay’s 2022 salary being guaranteed at signing. An additional $4.5MM of that salary became locked in on Day 1 of the 2022 league year. Golladay is attached to a $13MM base salary this season. Based on where his career has gone since a 2019 Pro Bowl slate, the 6-foot-4 target does not carry much trade value.

Golladay’s $21.5MM cap number tops the Giants’ payroll by a considerable margin. An in-season release would tag the team with a $25MM dead-money charge. The team making it work with Golladay, whom Rapoport adds has not been a problem in the locker room, until 2023 would lead to just $7.9MM in dead money — if designated as a post-June 1…