Joe Judge “excited about the prospect” of talking to Markus Golden

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The Giants broke out the rarely used unrestricted free agent tender this week in order to increase their chances of holding onto edge rusher Markus Golden.

If Golden hasn’t signed with another team by July 22, he’ll be tied to the Giants with a salary of just over $4.1 million. That’s surely less than Golden was hoping to make after picking up 10 sacks for the team last season, but the market hasn’t developed as he hoped and the Giants haven’t done much to address their pass rushing needs this offseason.

During an appearance on WFAN Tuesday, Giants head coach Joe Judge was asked about the decision to use the tag and the possibility that being tied to the Giants without a say in the matter might not sit well with Golden.

“Obviously, we think he’s a talented player. He’s been a great locker room guy. I have a lot of respect for him from afar — I haven’t worked with him in person yet,” Judge said, via SNY.tv. “We did what we thought was best for the team in terms of using tags. . . . I’m not gonna go into the contract part of it. I’m excited about the prospect of talking to Marcus [and] see where it goes from there.”

There’s a lot of time between now and July 22 for the Giants’ tender to be made moot by another team, although the quiet market to this point would certainly seem to make it a real possibility that he’ll be back for another spin with the NFC East club.