Giants Bet Big on Jon Runyan Jr. Despite a Below-Average 2025 Grade
The extension locks up interior line continuity through 2028, but Runyan graded below average at his position in 2025, according to Pro Football Focus.
The Giants signed left guard Jon Runyan Jr. to a two-year extension worth $22 million, with $21.5 million fully guaranteed, running through the 2028 season. ESPN's Adam Schefter first reported the deal on Sept. 6-7. The terms are confirmed by Spotrac; a separate summary sourced from OverTheCap corroborates the guarantee figures.
The extension locks in a starter on a line that helped the Giants post one of the better rushing attacks in the NFL in 2025. It also comes attached to a below-average individual season from Runyan by Pro Football Focus's own grading.
The terms
Runyan's new deal carries an average annual value of $11 million. His 2026 base salary is $9 million plus a $250,000 workout bonus, putting his 2026 cap hit at $11.75 million. If the Giants released him in 2026, they would absorb $2.5 million in dead cap. The extension replaces the three-year, $30 million contract Runyan signed as a free agent from Green Bay in March 2024.
Runyan plays left guard, not tackle
Runyan lines up at left guard. Giants.com, Spotrac and PFF all list him there, and he has made 79 career starts between the Giants and Packers — 51 at left guard, 28 at right guard. He played mostly left tackle in college at Michigan, but he has not started at tackle in the NFL.
The run game's 2025 numbers
The Giants' rushing offense was a genuine bright spot in 2025. The team gained 2,195 rushing yards, fifth-most in the NFL, averaging 129.1 yards per game, also fifth. Giants running backs scored 22 rushing touchdowns, tied for fourth in the league, and the offense picked up 141 first downs on the ground, fourth-most. The Giants had 59 runs of at least 10 yards, fifth-most in the NFL. Those figures come from Giants.com and are cross-checked against TeamRankings.com and NFL.com. The team finished 4-13-0.
Runyan's own grade doesn't match the team number
That team success doesn't carry over cleanly to Runyan's individual performance. PFF graded him at 53.0 overall for the 2025 season, ranking 67th of 81 qualified guards. His run-blocking grade was 49.2, also 67th. His pass-blocking grade was 60.7, ranking 48th. All three are below average by PFF's own standard.
Other outlets have also flagged the gap between the team's rushing output and Runyan's personal grade. Yahoo Sports published a piece calling the extension the Giants' "first bad move of the John Harbaugh era." GMEN HQ compared the signing to a potential mistake on the scale of the team's Darius Slayton decisions. PFF itself named Runyan the Giants' worst 2024 free-agent signing in a retrospective published Jan. 31, 2025.
The critical coverage does not establish that the extension will fail. It does show that outside grading of Runyan's 2025 season runs counter to the contract.
The same week, two other moves
The Giants also finalized a separate two-year extension for quarterback Jameis Winston, worth $13 million, in the same Sept. 6-7 window. They released Slayton on Sept. 7. GiantsGator has covered both moves in detail elsewhere.
Runyan played 1,095 snaps in 2025, per PFF. Year-by-year cap figures for 2027 and 2028 have not been published yet.