Could Giants have afforded Andrew Whitworth in free agency? | Bold predictions mailbag

The Giants, according to everything we http://www.js-lanhui.com/josh-jones-jersey-c-1_42.html know, didn’t even try to pursue Pro Bowl left tackle Andrew Whitworth in free agency. That was the mistake. An inexplicable, inexcusable mistake.
Those who claim the Giants could not have re-signed defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul and signed Whitworth are mistaken themselves. If the Giants had wanted to make it work, they could have made it work.
The two obvious paths to creating the cap space to do so, as Denis mentioned, would have been to cut or trade cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie or pass on signing Brandon Marshall. Getting rid of DRC would have been the obvious move; the Giants could have re-signed Coty Sensabaugh, who is three years younger, to play in the slot and not had much of a drop-off.
That being said, I think the Giants could have re-signed Pierre-Paul and signed Whitworth without doing anything different with DRC, Marshall or even Rhett Ellison. If the Giants sign Whitworth, they don’t sign D.J. Fluker ($3 million in cap savings). They may not even re-sign John Jerry ($1.75 million cap hit in 2017) considering Ereck Flowers or Bobby Hart could have been moved to right guard.
The Giants have a hair over $10 million in cap space right now. Whitworth’s 2017 cap hit with the Rams is $9.1 million. Whitworth may have been open to more years or a different structure to grease the skids and land with a “contender,” and the Giants would have had more space freed up by the signings they would not http://www.packersprosale.com/jason-spriggs-jersey-c-1_48.html have made if Whitworth was in the fold.
In fact, the Giants likely could have engineered basically a one-year deal for Whitworth, 36, and given themselves plenty of flexibility. But they didn't. They apparently didn’t even try anything. General manager Jerry Reese has no excuse.