It seems like a lifetime ago in football that Daniel Jones was thought to have taken a big step forward by emerging as a capable dual-threat quarterback. A five-year playoff drought for the New York Giants ended in 2022 and they earned a wild card game against the Minnesota Vikings. Jones posted career highs in passing yards (3,205), completion percentage (67.2%) and passer rating (92.5) while rushing for 708 yards during the 2022 season.
A strong desire to reach a deal to ensure a franchise tag could be used on running back Saquon Barkley led Jones to sign a four-year, $160 million contract (worth up to $195 million thanks to incentives and salary escalators ) with $104 million. in guarantees, of which $81 million was fully guaranteed upon signing in March 2023. The $40 million per year deal put Jones at signing tied with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Los Angeles Rams, Matthew Stafford, as the seventh best player in the NFL. -paid player.
That 2022 season turned out to be fool’s gold for the Giants and Jones. The Giants rode the momentum of a surprising 6-1 start to the season, in which all wins were one-score games, to a 9-7-1 record. Jones regressed in 2023 before missing the entire season in Week 9 with a torn ACL in his right knee.
The Giants quickly had a case of buyer’s remorse when general manager Joe Schoen explored moving from the sixth overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft to taking a quarterback. Instead, this pick was used on LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers to give Jones a dynamic weapon in the passing game. A primary goal in free agency was improving the offensive line. Offensive tackle Jermaine Eluemunor and offensive guard Jon Runyan Jr. were signed.
Jones has continued to regress despite efforts to improve the offensive talent around him. Giants coach Brian Daboll had been adamant about Jones being the starting quarterback until a 20-17 Week 10 overtime loss to the Carolina Panthers, who entered the game with the worst scoring defense. of the NFL, allowing 32.6 points per game. Heading into the Week 11 bye, Daboll was noncommittal about Jones opening the door for Drew Lock or Tommy DeVito to start in Week 12 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The elephant in the room is the remaining $23 million in guarantees on Jones’ contract. Jones is scheduled to earn $30.5 million in 2025, consisting of a base salary of $30 million and a training bonus of $500,000. Of Jones’ $30 million base salary, $23 million is guaranteed per injury. On the fifth day of the 2025 league year (next March 16), 12 million of these 23 million will be fully guaranteed.
It’s not unusual for financial considerations to become part of the equation with struggling quarterbacks. The Las Vegas Raiders, who had not yet been eliminated from playoff contention with a 6-9 record, sat a healthy Derek Carr for the final two games of 2022. Carr’s base salary of $32.9 million in 2023 and $7.5 million of his $41.9 million in 2024. The base salary, both guaranteed due to injury, would be fully guaranteed on February 15, 2023, three days after the Super Bowl LVII.
Russell Wilson, who was also healthy, was benched by the Denver Broncos for the final two games of last season. His $37 million 2025 salary that was previously guaranteed due to injury and became fully secured on the fifth day of the 2024 league year on March 17 prompted the decision. The Broncos were still mathematically alive for a playoff spot with a 7-8 record.
The Giants are already in a different place than the Broncos and Raiders. It would be unprecedented for the Giants, who have lost five straight games, to make the playoffs with a 2-8 record. The Giants are in a competitive race to the bottom for the first overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, as there are 11 teams with three or fewer wins after 10 weeks of games.
Schoen downplayed contract implications when asked about Jones’ status during his bye week news conference Tuesday. “Any decisions we make in the future as we evaluate the squad and what we do over the last seven games will be football decisions,” Schoen said.
Contract aside, Jones has provided plenty of ammunition for a quarterback change. Since Jones signed his contract, the Giants have only won three of the 16 games he has started.
There are 29 quarterbacks who have attempted 400 passes since the start of the 2023 season. Jones compares favorably to Desmond Ridder in conventional statistics.
|
Games |
Starts |
Terminations |
Attempts |
% |
Yards |
T.D. |
ENT |
Passer Rating |
|
|
Daniel Jones |
16 |
16 |
324 |
501 |
64.7% |
2979 |
10 |
13 |
76.6 |
|
Desmond Ridder |
17 |
13 |
260 |
404 |
64.4% |
2910 |
13 |
12 |
84.1 |
The Atlanta Falcons quickly determined that Ridder, a 2022 third-round pick, was not the answer at quarterback after starting most of the 2023 season. Ridder was traded to the Arizona Cardinals in March in exchange for wide receiver Rondale Moore. He was released and signed to the Cardinals’ practice squad after losing a battle to be Kyler Murray’s backup to 2023 fifth-round pick Clayton Tune. Ridder was signed by the Raiders off the Cardinals’ practice squad after Aiden O’Connell broke his right thumb seven games into the season.
Jones’ 76.6 passer rating is 28th. He is the only one of the 29 quarterbacks, other than Bryce Young, who has a negative touchdown pass to interception ratio. Young has thrown 15 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. Additionally, Jones’ 5.94 yards per pass attempt is ahead of only Young (5.44) and Joshua Dobbs (5.91).
It would be best for the Giants to bench Jones to avoid a potential financial problem with an injury. There are concerns about Jones’ durability. He has failed to finish two of his previous five NFL seasons due to injury. Jones missed the final six games of 2021 with a neck injury in addition to last season’s torn ACL.
As a dual-threat quarterback, Jones is susceptible to additional punishment from defenders. Left tackle Andrew Thomas, the Giants’ top offensive lineman, being out for the season with a foot injury makes matters worse.
An injury in which Jones cannot pass a physical before March 16 could put the Giants on the line for $23 million of his 2025 base salary. Logan Ryan’s situation could be instructive if this scenario were to occur. The defensive back had $5.5 million of his 2022 base salary fully guaranteed. An additional $3 million that was guaranteed due to injuries and salary cap would become fully guaranteed on the third day of the 2022 league year.
Ryan took all 59 defensive snaps in the final game of the Giants’ 2021 season. He later underwent surgery on his right index finger. Ryan was released one day before the $3 million was fully secured. A little more than a week later, Ryan signed a one-year contract for his league-minimum salary of $1.12 million with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which included an injury waiver on his surgically repaired finger.
Ryan filed a grievance against the Giants for $3 million for being released while injured. Under the rules of the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, 40% of the amount in dispute ($1.2 million in this case) was a 2022 salary cap charge for the Giants while the complaint was pending. The complaint was resolved in 2023 and Ryan was awarded $2.7 million.
The Giants had a $1.5 million salary cap charge for 2023 along with the $1.2 million in 2022 related to the complaint. It’s hard to imagine the Giants would have settled for 90% of the amount in question if they felt there was a strong chance of prevailing on the merits.
The Giants will gain $19.395 million in 2025 cap space by releasing a healthy Jones next offseason before March 16 without using a post-June 1 designation. There would be $22.21 million in dead money, a salary cap charge for a player no longer on a team’s roster, instead of his $41.605 million cap figure for 2025.
Even if Daboll and Schoen roll the dice and continue playing with Jones, the Giants will almost certainly have a different starting quarterback in 2025. Daboll and Schoen recently received a vote of confidence from Giants co-owner John Mara. That could be subject to change, especially if the Giants finish worse than in 2021, when coach Joe Judge was fired and general manager Dave Gettleman retired after a 4-13 season, leading to his hiring.
