Maybe an old dog can learn new tricks.



Giants general manager Dave Gettleman’s approach to free agency this offseason has been a drastic departure from the team’s typical way of doing business. The Giants began free agency on Monday afternoon with roughly $73 million in cap space and most of that was gone within 48 hours, but the structure of the contracts handed out maintained flexibility for the future.



That isn’t the way Gettleman operated in his first two years on the job. Instead, he continued predecessor Jerry Reese’s practice of doling out massive signing bonuses that made the pain from mistakes linger on the cap for years.



For instance, when Gettleman unwisely tried to squeeze one more run out of the 3-13 Eli Manning-led team he inherited in 2018, he gave free agent left tackle Nate Solder a four-year, $62 million contract that included a $16 million signing bonus. Signing bonuses are prorated evenly over the life of a...