Giants add Devontae Booker to backfield, source says
Raiders running back Devontae Booker at Allegiant Stadium on November 22, 2020 in Las Vegas. Credit: Getty Images/Chris Unger
The Giants are still counting on Saquon Barkley returning from his torn ACL at full strength for the 2021 season, but their first big addition of free agency is a running back who can serve as his backup.
Devontae Booker, most recently of the Raiders, agreed to a two-year deal with the Giants that could be worth up to $6 million, a source confirmed Monday. The deal will be finalized once Freeman passes a team physical and signs at some point after the start of the new league year on Wednesday.
Booker, who will turn 29 in May, began his career with the Broncos and rushed for 1,526 yards and nine touchdowns in his five NFL seasons. He also has caught 122 passes for 956 yards and a touchdown and has been a contributor on special teams.
The Giants churned through a number of options at running back when Barkley was lost to the knee injury midway through last year’s second game, including Wayne Gallman, Devonta Freeman, Alfred Morris and Dion Lewis. All of them are free agents and, with the addition of Booker, certainly less likely to return to the Giants.
"Good Lord willing, Saquon will be 100% and obviously he’ll make a huge difference," general manager Dave Gettleman said last week. "A healthy Saquon obviously makes a big difference, but, again, you’re always looking to add good players."
Johnson re-signs
Backup defensive tackle Austin Johnson will return for a second season with the Giants, the latest indication that starter Dalvin Tomlinson will not be back in 2021. Tomlinson, a free agent, figures to receive a lucrative contract on the open market, one the Giants are unlikely to be able to match after applying the franchise tag to defensive lineman Leonard Williams.
The Giants are still working toward a long-term deal with Williams that would lower his salary cap hit, which stands at close to $20 million, but even with that maneuverability, Tomlinson almost certainly will be beyond their means.
As for Johnson, his new one-year deal with the Giants is pending a physical. The 27-year-old played in all 16 games for the Giants in 2020 and had 18 tackles with one sack.
Ex-Giants cash in
Waived by the Giants last week, guard Kevin Zeitler signed a three-year, $22 million deal with the Ravens on Monday. He was one of several former Giants who cashed in around the league.
Romeo Okwara, who began his career as an undrafted player with the Giants but was cut just before the 2018 season, re-signed with the Lions on a three-year, $39 million deal.
Markus Golden, who played a year and a half for the Giants before being traded to the Cardinals last season, re-signed in Arizona. He received a two-year deal worth $9 million.
Zeitler high on Jones
Zeitler is no longer a Giants offensive lineman, but he’s still blocking for Daniel Jones.
He expressed optimism not only for his new team but his former one in an interview on SiriusXM’s NFL Radio. That confidence was mostly because of Jones, the quarterback who is about to enter his third season in the league.
"I think he’s about to take off," Zeitler said of Jones in the Monday interview. "Handling all the insanity of his first year and then this year with even more insanity, the fact that he just came to work every single day, I think he’s really going to explode this year and New York is going to be dangerous."
Zeitler also had nice things to say about Joe Judge, noting that he "learned a lot more about football in general than I have in years" during his one season playing for him. Zeitler, who played just two years for the Giants, noted the change in culture during Judge’s tenure and touted the team’s improving defense.
"They’re going to be very tough," he said.
Because Zeitler was released and not a pending free agent, he did not have to wait for the start of the league year on Wednesday to make his new agreement with the Ravens official. He said he was not surprised by the Giants’ decision, given the $14.5 million cap hit he was due to cost them.
"You want to be with the Giants to finish out the contract or get extended, but it is what it is," he said. "The call came, I understood, and now it’s on to a new adventure."
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
