Xavier McKinney must wait until next week to enter a race that already has started.

After the New York Giants declined to use their franchise tag or transition tag on the former Alabama defensive back, McKinney is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at 3 p.m. CDT Wednesday. If the Giants don’t sign him to a contract extension before then, McKinney will join a suddenly loaded lineup of available safeties.

Last month, the Chicago Bears released another former Alabama defensive back, Eddie Jackson, for salary-cap savings.

In the past week, starting safeties Kevin Byard, Jamal Adams, Quandre Diggs, Rayshawn Jenkins, Jordan Poyer and Justin Simmons have been released for the same reason.

The salary-cap savings for 2024 realized by the release of safeties this offseason has reached $103.25 million, overthecap.com reported.

“I honestly don’t know what’s going on with just kind of the league in general with the whole safety thing and everybody getting released,” McKinney said during an appearance on FanDuel TV’s “Up and Adams” on Thursday. “It’s kind of mind-boggling to me a little bit, especially seeing what the league is turning into as far as it being a passing league. Just kind of seeing these DBs these past couple of days get released – star safeties, star corners, guys that are just getting released. It’s kind of ridiculous to me. But we’ll see what happens. …

“I don’t know what’s going on, but it doesn’t really make sense. Right now, you need a star safety. You need a guy that can go out there and cover these receivers and tight ends.”

Jackson, Byard, Adams, Diggs, Poyer and Simmons have combined for 13 Pro Bowl and five first-team All-Pro selections.

“Regardless of who is in that bracket, I do believe I am the best one out of all of these guys,” McKinney said.

McKinney has not been a Pro Bowler or an All-Pro, although during the 2023 season, he played all 1,128 of New York’s defensive snaps and recorded 116 tackles, three interceptions and 11 passes defended. Only three other NFL players reached those numbers in those three stats in 2023 – Atlanta Falcons safety Jessie Bates III, San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner and Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield Jr. Bates was a Pro Bowler and Warner and Winfield were first-team All-Pro picks.

Unlike the safeties who have been released from their contracts, McKinney cannot start talking to other teams about a new contract until 11 a.m. Monday and cannot sign with another team until Wednesday afternoon. The released safeties are free agents right now with the ability to sign at any time.

Teams expected to be particularly interested in looking at the free-agent safeties include the New York Jets, Indianapolis Colts, Los Angeles Rams, Miami Dolphins, Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills.

If he joined the Jets, McKinney wouldn’t need to change home fields. The defensive pass-game coordinator for the Packers is Derrick Ansley, who was Alabama’s defensive-backs coach during McKinney’s freshman season with the Crimson Tide.

“It’s been a while since I talked to him actually,” McKinney said. “I talked to him when he was with the Chargers (as defensive coordinator). This was like a couple of years ago, but we went out there and played them. I talked to him out on the field. But I haven’t talked to him outside of that. …

“I actually didn’t even know that he was there. I thought he was still with the Chargers, so when I actually saw that news and heard that news, I was kind of intrigued a little bit because I had no clue that he was there.”

The Giants could have kept McKinney out of free agency by using their franchise tag on the safety. That would have guaranteed McKinney a payday of $17.123 million for the 2024 season if a long-term contract could not be worked out by July 15.

RELATED: GIANTS LEAVE XAVIER MCKINNEY UNTAGGED

“I really didn’t know what the plan was as far as what they wanted to do,” McKinney said. “I know it was something that could have happened, but, obviously, it didn’t, so I’m kind of grateful that it didn’t.”

McKinney said his preference would be to sign a contract extension with New York.

“We’ve had talks,” McKinney said. “We’re trying to figure something out. …

“Ultimately, it’s not really all up to me, so it’s something we both got to come to a mutual agreement, and, like I said, hopefully we can get something done. If not, I understand it’s business. Just kind of got to see it that way.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.