By this time next week, or very shortly thereafter, Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh will sign a new free-agent contract that's likely to be larger than any non-quarterback deal in NFL history. The identity of the team whose logo will be on this contract's letterhead is unknown, and the speculation will only intensify over the weekend and into Tuesday, when free agency begins at 4 p.m. ET.

Some reports have begun to link the New York Giants to Suh, based on the belief that he'd like to play in New York and the fact that the Giants' defense needs ... well, a lot of help. It's a fun connection for Giants fans to make. Yes, obviously the Giants would benefit from having Suh on their defensive line. Any team would. He's a generational talent who'd upgrade anyone's line, and that's why he's going to make so much money.

But I don't think it's realistic for the Giants or their fans to honestly think they can sign Suh, and that's because of their financial situation relative to the rest of the league. Put simply, there are too many other teams with far more cap room, a mandate to spend money, and a need for the kind of instant and dramatic upgrade Suh would offer. Especially with franchise player Jason Pierre-Paul now on the books for $14.813 million for 2015, I don't believe the Giants have the salary cap wherewithal to bring Suh into the fold.

Based on the conversations I've had on this topic with various people around the team and the league, I believe the Giants will be among the teams to call Suh's agent this weekend and express an interest in signing Suh. As of Saturday, teams can contact the agents for pending free agents and talk contract parameters, and the Giants would be foolish not to at least find out what the asking price will be. Players like this don't become free agents very often, and before conducting their other business the Giants will do their due diligence and find out how much budget stretching it would take to sign him.

But based on those same conversations, I don't think the Giants will get very far, and I believe they know it. Once Pierre-Paul signs his franchise tender, the Giants will have $13,795,930 in cap room. Take off what they'll need to sign their draft picks and that drops it down to about $10 million. You could conceivably fit the first year of a long-term Suh deal under that number if you structured it correctly, but then you couldn't do much of anything else. And while the Giants could add more cap room by restructuring or eliminating the contracts of guys like Jon Beason, Jameel McClain and Trumaine McBride, that would open up more holes on defense that would need to be filled.

The two other ways of creating large cap room are difficult. The Giants could extend the contract of quarterback Eli Manning and save as much as $11 million this year, but to this point talks on that front have been fruitless and the Giants appear inclined to let Manning play out the final year of his deal. The other option is to withdraw the franchise tender to Pierre-Paul and allow him to become an unrestricted free agent, then spend his money on a pursuit of Suh. But doing that leaves the Giants without a real pass-rushing threat at defensive end, and they'd have to spend big to patch that hole, too.

So in conclusion, while I expect the Giants to poke around on Suh -- and I expect said poking to generate more headlines, clicks and discussion -- I don't think it's realistic to think they actually can get him. Teams like Jacksonville, Oakland and the Jets have cap room in the $40-60 million range and will be able to offer far more than the Giants can offer even if they did do all of the dangerous salary-cap dancing they'd have to do to get into the game. If you're a Giants fan and you want to dream and wish and hope, well, that's your right as a fan. But I don't think this is something, in the end, that the Giants can actually do.