One of the New York Giants' defensive captains could become a free agent on Tuesday. Safety Antrel Rolle is scheduled to hit the market after five seasons with Big Blue and it's unknown if the two sides have a plan to reunite.
Rolle decided to take his situation to Twitter last night after Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News reported that the veteran "still sees himself as a top safety" and "it's possible he may not be looking for much less than" the $7 million he made in each of the past two seasons. Rolle just finished playing out a five-year, $41 million contract with the G-Men.
"All of these allegations regarding my contract negotiations are entirely false," Rolle wrote. "I haven't had discussions with any teams, including NYG. This is a business and I will approach it just as that. I plan to let everything run its course ... No numbers have been discussed at all and neither have I put a price on myself."
The 32-year-old has started every game over the past five seasons for New York and has been arguably the most important team leader because of his passion and outspoken nature. The Giants would love to have him back, but they must also deal with the impending free agencies of quarterback Eli Manning and Jason Pierre-Paul following the 2015 season and it's likely the team is working on signing them to extensions.
Rolle could very well be too expensive for their salary cap situation, but we know there's one person who wants him back.
"He's an outstanding young man and really I've never come across a player that was more interested in his team and trying to help his team be better in any way they could," head coach Tom Coughlin said, via Jordan Raanan of NJ.com. "I think countless Tuesday's Antrel was in my office with, 'How can we get better? What can we do to get better?' Just thoughts going back and forth between coach/player, in terms of how our team could improve."
Coughlin noted that financial restrictions could be a determining factor in Rolle returning to the Giants. Being that Rolle is arguably the second-best free-agent safety behind Devin McCourty, another team could pay him the money the Giants might not be willing to.
