Earlier this week, we heard that the Giants had not yet engaged in contract talks with quarterback Daniel Jones, who is set to hit free agency in March. The contract statuses of Jones and running back Saquon Barkley, another impending FA, have been intertwined for some time, and while the cost of a nonexclusive franchise tag for Barkley (~$10MM) is much lower than it is for Jones (~$32MM), tagging Barkley would considerably reduce the club’s leverage in its negotiations with Jones, because Jones would then have the power to reject any offer and hit the open market.
As such, it makes sense that GM Joe Schoen has resumed discussions with Barkley and may want to get that matter settled before turning his attention to his signal-caller, whose surprisingly strong 2022 has him in an enviable financial position. Previous reports indicated that New York would be eyeing a $35MM/year contract for the Dave Gettleman draftee, and in speaking with six current or former high-ranking NFL execs, Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post says that number sounds about right.
All six experts suggested that a new contract for Jones would feature an AAV between $30MM and $40MM. Of course, guarantees and cash flow are better indicators of the value of an NFL contract than the yearly average, but Jones is in good shape in that regard as well. Dunleavy’s sources suggest that Jones could be in line for $70MM in full guarantees and up to $100MM in total guarantees.
The Brian Daboll/Schoen partnership led to a playoff berth much sooner than many anticipated, and whether or not New York builds on its 2022 success will depend in large part on how it resolves the Jones and Barkley situations. Indeed, the Giants have plenty of other needs, including wide receiver, and even assuming they retain their QB1 and RB1, they will still need to maximize their cap flexibility to prevent regression from a roster that generally overperformed last year.
In addition to outside acquisitions, Schoen has current players not named Jones or Barkley that he may want to take care of. One of those players is safety Julian Love, who saw a massive spike in playing time in the fourth and final year of his rookie deal and who paced Big Blue with 124 tackles. Player and team talked contract during the Giants’ bye week, and Schoen recently reiterated his desire to keep Love in the fold. Per Connor Hughes of SNY.tv, the bye week discussions were fruitful, and it sounds as if a new deal could be on the horizon (Twitter link).
Fellow safety Xavier McKinney missed a chunk of time in 2022 due to a hand injury suffered in an ATV accident, but he has now accrued three years of service time and is therefore eligible for an extension. As Dan Duggan of The Athletic tweets, McKinney recently retained super-agent David Mulugheta, who represents some of the highest-profile safeties in the game. With so many other irons in the fire, it remains to be seen if Schoen will commence contract talks with McKinney in the coming weeks, but whenever it does happen, McKinney will be in good hands.
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I wish I could be a below average employee and get between $30-40m a season. 1 decent season deserves a new contract after 3 bad ones? Make it pro, it pays.
Yeah but they’re not spending their Sunday mornings commenting on articles written about your job.
Ok; then go play professional football if it’s that easy
Below average? Thanks for letting everyone know that you don’t know anything about football.
Are you serious? Do yo9u even follow the game? True questions. here’s your hero’s stats
21-32-1 W/L record
60-34 TD/Int
13 fumbles
64% completion.
149 sacks!
Do you really consider that good? That’s bench warming material at best.
His fumbles and interceptions have gone down every season. His completion percentage has gone up every year. That low in fumbles also came in a year when he almost doubled his high number of rushing attempts. It’s one thing to not be a big Jones believer, and I’m certainly not his biggest booster, but to judge a guy who isn’t even 25 by his career stat line and leave out improvement is silly. He’s made strides in some of the areas you’re knocking him for. And the win-loss record leaves out all the incompetence that surrounded him.
*isn’t even 26
Your words: ‘I’m not saying I’d be itchy to give him all that money, but he did look a lot better playing under good offensive coaches for once, and he’s only a year older than Kenny Pickett.
Can’t defend and stomp on the guy at the same time. To me, he’s not worth the value or time. Get another rookie.
When did I stomp on him? I’m trying to recognize the nuance between great and bad, because he resides somewhere in between. I don’t think lumping in his rookie stats helps with that. If he can be brought in for closer to $30 million, given what QBs cost and where they’re drafting, that’s not crazy. Between Jones and Geno, this is an interesting offseason to see if it’s possible to establish a veteran starting QB price tier that’s much less than the top guys.
You can’t lump in his stats huh? Sure, he can get a pass for year 1. What about years 2 & 3? He was openly mocked in all media outlets for turnovers and sacks during those years. This is nothing new. Mahomes, Lamar, T Lawrence, Burrow, Herbert, even Tua showed growth each year. Jones didn’t. He had 1 nice season last year. that’s his resume.
Drew Brees was terrible in years 2 and 3 before finally improving in year 4. Did you say the same about him?
What about Rich Gannon? He’s a prime example of a late bloomer. Athletes, like any humans, develop at different rates
Rich Gannon? You may as well use Geno Smith. Both were in their 30’s before becoming late bloomers.
As for Brees. In year 5, 2005 (drafted 2001) he completed 64%, 24-15 TD/INT ratio, 27 sacks, and went from 104 to 89 rating from ’04-05. Those numbers don’t pop out which is why SD (at the time) let him walk. Here’s his QB rating each year:
Starting at 2001 94-76-67-104-89. That’s a seesaw rating if you ask me. True, he turned it around. But that’s rare. Would you bet on Dan Jones to follow Drew’s path? I wouldn’t.
Again, his completion percentage, fumbles, and interceptions improved every single year, and a new coach showed that he can be used as much more of a rushing weapon. I never lumped him into the top category. That would be ridiculous. But there has to be some middle ground for QBs after their rookie deal that isn’t either top of the market contract or one year deal bench fodder. A lot of teams have holes at QB. Jones at his age coming off that season with that upward trajectory is going to be pretty appealing to teams that can’t land one of the top two veterans available or top two or three draft prospects. Teams like Washington, the Jets, Atlanta, and Carolina all sure could have gone further with a QB of even Jones’ caliber. That’s valuable, even if he’s never going to be a top ten guy, as long as you don’t pay him like a top ten guy.
If we were both GM’s, I’d tell you to go for Jones! He’s ok, but certainly not a QB you build a franchise around. How is he different than Cousins? Better stats each year but playoff wins???? Minny has blown well over $100m and still haven’t learned that lesson.
With the cap going up significantly, that salary is less of the cap than it used to be. Cousins took up a big share of the cap as the rest of their roster aged, left, or fell flat. The Giants only have three significant veteran contracts left on their books, and at least one of them will be gone. Locking in Jones wouldn’t be like the Cousins contract, because it wouldn’t force them to cut anyone or let anyone walk that they weren’t already going to.
Cap aside, would you want Cousins to be your QB? He’s decent at best. I’ve said this before, Cousins played the market perfectly and good for him. Doubled down on the tag and won 3 times (2 tag salaries + the 1st guaranteed contract). Smart dude and great at business, but an average QB.
That average QB went to the playoffs, as did Jones. A lot of teams who didn’t make it had much worse options than either, and some of them still will next year. Jones is better than a lot of options, and that’s especially true if you think he has more growth left in him.
Even if you think he’s only the 20th best QB in football, below average starter at the most valuable position in all of sports isn’t the same as below average employee. Heck, a lot of below average CEOs make a lot more.
Good for him to make his money. But if the Giants think they can ‘turn him around’ they’re only fooling themselves. You are what your record and stats say you are & he’s below average.
I’m not saying I’d be itchy to give him all that money, but he did look a lot better playing under good offensive coaches for once, and he’s only a year older than Kenny Pickett. In a market with more QB vacancies than sure things, I can see someone getting big on him, and it wouldn’t be the wildest one, even if I’d be hesitant.
I agree he’ll get paid. I just don’t agree with paying him. All pro leagues have average players making bank. And good for them. I wish I could have made it pros in the early 90’s when I was in my 20’s. I would have gladly held a clipboard for a few years and have a wallet full of cash to show for it!
He’s going to get paid but maybe he should not. I am afraid not enough a body of work to throw a big contract at.
Jones played well in the Colts game, but in the Vikings game that was the first time in four seasons that the Giants won simply because of Daniel Jones, and would have lost without him and what he did. In some other games they won because he played well but any QB could have. Yes he made progress but he hasn’t thrown for 20 TD let alone 30. Yes he fumbled less and threw only a few picks, but the game plan was conservative and designed for that. Not exactly Kerry Collins who was good for launching one 30+ yards at least once a quarter trying to hit Toomer and hitting the defensive backs pretty much at the same rate.
The Giants are in a tough spot. They could pay Jones and he doesn’t get any better – that’s a bad outcome that handcuffs the team for years. They could NOT pay Jones and have him continue to improve, that looks like they gave up on him. The perfect outcome would be to sign Jones to an incentive-laden contract no more than 3 years but there’s no way Jones is going to do that, nor should he.