Giants general manager Joe Schoen made a stunning threat toward Nick McCloud and his agents while negotiating a potential pay cut for the defensemen in November.
“Don't pay October rent, okay? As soon as I can replace it, I'll replace it. I'm not a king,” Schoen told McCloud's representatives over the phone, according to ESPN.
Schoen reportedly hung up immediately, according to ESPN.
Photos by Vincent Carchietta-Imagine
These new details reveal how the Giants' front office operates amid back-to-back terrible seasons.
McCloud, a veteran “Swiss Army Knife” defensive back, had been praised by team officials just a few months earlier.
But as The Post previously reported, McCloud quickly fell out of favor with the team's brass after winning the starting job out of camp.
Schoen and Co. wanted the veteran to take a pay cut on the one-year, $3 million contract he signed in March.
NFL executives told ESPN it was a highly unusual request because it came right before the team's Week 4 game against the Dallas Cowboys, a game McCloud was scheduled to start.
The veteran defender said no to this request.
McCloud was eventually cut, but not in September. Nor October.
The cornerback played his last game for Big Blue on November 3. It was cut off after two days.
Between the call-up prior to Week 4 and McCloud's firing on November 5, the cornerback made four more starts for the Giants.
The team saved $1.5 million on the cap with the move.
McCloud was a leader in the Giants' locker room, a respected veteran presence who knew the playbook duties of outside cornerback, safety, slot cornerback, linebacker, and the hybrid defensive coordinator for the “Mr. Money” position that Shane Bowen often bragged about.
However, as ESPN reported, later in November, Schoen told members of the media that he did not believe his maneuvers alienated players.
Not a McCloud maneuver. Not a Xavier McKinney maneuver. Not a bad move by Saquon Barkley.
The Giants were 2-7 when McCloud was released and had lost seven of their last eight games.
McCloud may not have been part of the solution, but he certainly wasn't the crux of the problem either.
