Giants free agency 2022: S Jabrill Peppers

Has energetic safety Jabrill Peppers played his last snap with the Giants?

Jabrill Peppers was one of the players former New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman hoped to build around after acquiring the former first-round pick in a trade for Odell Beckham Jr.

Now, with a new regime in place, the East Orange, N.J. native might be an ex-Giant. Let’s talk about Peppers as we continue looking at the Giants’ unrestricted free agents.

Details

Age: 27
Position: Safety
2021 salary cap hit: $6.77 million

Making the case

Peppers is a good player, but not a great one. He brings energy, athleticism, hard-hitting run defense along the line of scrimmage and the ability to return punts.

Peppers does not bring man-to-man coverage skills or an ability to patrol centerfield as a single-high safety, skills that would appear to be needed in Wink Martindale’s aggressive defensive scheme.

Peppers might also be out of the cap-strapped Giants’ price range, with Spotrac estimating he could be in line for a four-year, $50.14 million contract ($12.5 million per year).

The season-ending knee injury Peppers suffered in 2021 might preclude teams from offering him that kind of money if that’s his market, though, the Giants can’t play in that ballpark.

If Peppers would take a one-year “prove it” deal he might be appealing to the Giants in the short term.

The Giants, though, do have Xavier McKinney, Logan Ryan and Julian Love at safety, and the possibility Notre Dame’s Kyle Hamilton could be available to them in the draft.

Peppers feels like a luxury the Giants can’t afford.