The Giants punted their primary leverage in contract talks with safety Xavier McKinney.
Instead of applying the transition tag to McKinney and retaining the right to match any contract offer he signs with another team once free agency opens next week, the Giants opted Tuesday against using the one-year, $13.8 million tender as a placeholder.
Negotiations between the team and agent David Mulugheta will continue over the next six days of an exclusive-rights window, and there is “still a chance he’s back,” a source told The Post’s Paul Schwartz.
The Giants considered placing the transition tag on McKinney, and not doing so can be viewed as a show of good faith, by both sides, that a deal might be able to get worked out.
It is unlikely, though, that the Giants will be able to keep McKinney off the open market, since he has nothing to lose by waiting until Monday to see what other teams offer. And he is under no obligation to bring his best offer back to the Giants.
Though there is no draft-pick compensation attached to the seldom-used transition tag — unlike the franchise tag — reality is that it could’ve limited demand for McKinney because other suitors might have been reluctant to do the Giants’ negotiation dirty work for them.
The five-day period the Giants would’ve had to match an offer also meant a new team would’ve been stuck in limbo while their Plan B options came off the board.
The thought around the league was that there would be a wide gap between the valuations that the Giants had for McKinney and that McKinney had for himself, which is an ideal circumstance for the transition tag.
The Patriots transition tagged Kyle Dugger and the Buccaneers franchise tagged fellow Mulugheta client Antoine Winfield as part of Tuesday’s thinning of the safety market.
Mulugheta took safety Landon Collins from the Giants to Washington on a record-setting contract in 2019 and subsequently has negotiated three of the current eight-biggest contracts for safeties — all ranging from $14.7 million-$19.1 million per year, per spotrac.com.
It is curious practice for the Giants to risk losing a 24-year-old, homegrown, two-time captain who played every defensive snap last season, especially given how new defensive coordinator Shane Bowen’s scheme features versatile safeties.
Especially with no other obvious candidates for multiyear extensions coming down the pike, after general manager Joe Schoen re-signed left tackle Andrew Thomas and defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence last offseason.
McKinney views himself as one of the elite safeties in the game — the top five all average at least $16 million per year — and he has Hall of Fame aspirations.
He hasn’t made a Pro Bowl in his four seasons (nine interceptions in 49 games) playing a hybrid safety role with the Giants, so he could be looking to join a contender for an increased shot at earning recognition.
The Giants paid McKinney’s salary after he was injured in an ATV accident and missed eight games during the 2022 season.
If McKinney does not return, the Giants are thought to be interested in adding an NFC East rival via free agency — either Kevin Byard, who played under Bowen with the Titans before he was traded to the Eagles, or four-year Commanders starter Kamren Curl.
Teams only can use one of the transition tag or the franchise tag, but the Giants opted for neither, after sparing Saquon Barkley a second consecutive franchise tag earlier in the day.
