Pro Football Rumors

As you may have heard, the Giants pursued a quarterback upgrade this offseason. The team made Drake Maye its primary target, sending the Patriots a strong offer (Nos. 6 and 47, along with a 2025 first-round pick) for No. 3 overall. The Pats passed on Giants and Vikings offers for the pick and centered their rebuild around Maye. The Giants then passed on selecting J.J. McCarthy, Michael Penix Jr. or Bo Nix despite spending time with all three leading up to the draft.

This always left Daniel Jones in limbo, as he has underwhelmed — for the most part — since becoming Eli Manning‘s successor. Jones’ solid yet unspectacular 2022 notwithstanding, the Giants certainly have not seen him live up to the four-year, $160MM deal they authorized just before the March 2023 deadline to apply franchise tags — which led to Saquon Barkley‘s tag and eventual exit. The domino effect here both benefited the Eagles and likely has GM Joe Schoen on a hot seat — after the Jones-over-Barkley decision affected his 2024 plan as well — despite John Mara‘s reassurances.

[RELATED: GM Joe Schoen Expects To Be Back In 2025]

Mara gave Schoen and HC Brian Daboll endorsements for both the end of this season and into 2025, but with the Giants at 2-8 and having lost to a struggling Panthers team in Germany, it is fairly safe to assume both power brokers are far from assured to be back next year. Mara had expected a “big step forward” this season.

Mara has been a bit more patient with GMs compared to HCs, giving two-time Super Bowl winner Jerry Reese the chance to hire the head coach post-Tom Coughlin (Ben McAdoo) and allowing Dave Gettleman to select two HCs (Pat Shurmur, Joe Judge). Schoen being given a quick hook would be out of character, but Daboll receiving the boot after three years would not. Daboll is the only Giants HC to see a third season since Coughlin’s exit.

As it stands, the Giants have a decision to make on Jones; a benching is already on the table. Although no more fully guaranteed money remains on Jones’ contract following this season, sixth-year quarterback has a $23MM injury guarantee for 2025. That would kick in if Jones cannot pass a physical by the start of the 2025 league year in March. This has loomed over the Giants since their Maye trade effort failed. Daboll did not open up a competition this offseason, despite some comments from Seahawks GM John Schneider indicating that was on tap, and the New York Post’s Ryan Dunleavy notes no known first-team reps have gone to Drew Lock or Tommy DeVito this season. Jones’ contract situation points to that changing soon.

Since the 2011 draft changed NFL roster-building, Jones is an outlier. He is the only quarterback who remained a starter with the same team in a sixth season despite not averaging more than seven yards per attempt in any of his first five. The Giants passing on long-rumored target McCarthy at No. 6 gave Jones security, as Lock has not proven a threat. New York passing on McCarthy and other QBs at 6 led Malik Nabers to the Big Apple in hopes the LSU product would ignite Jones. While Nabers has certainly flashed, Jones has continued to struggle upon returning from his ACL tear. He exited a two-INT Carolina game ranked 27th in QBR and averaging just 6.1 yards per attempt.

It appears a 2025 Jones release — long viewed as likely — is close to a near-certainty. With Jones seeing his 2021 season end early due to a neck injury that required surgery and then suffering the ACL tear two years later (after missing 2023 games with more neck trouble), the Giants run the risk of another injury triggering those guarantees and hurting their ability to build a 2025 roster. A 2015 Robert Griffin III-style bubble-wrap scenario may be imminent.

If Jones is cut after passing a physical, it would cost the Giants $22.21MM in dead money — a figure that could be spread over two years, in a post-June 1 release scenario — to move on in 2025. A $23MM sum added to that would create more challenges for the team, which would then be responsible for the second-highest dead money figure — well, depending on what the Browns do with Deshaun Watson — in NFL history.

Lock stands as the more likely player to be given the reins in a Jarrett Stidham scenario, and a benching before the Giants’ Week 12 game would give the former Broncos starter and Seahawks backup a longer runway than each of Stidham’s contract-driven outings. Stidham owns this corner right now, having been promoted by both the Raiders and Broncos to protect injury guarantees in 2022 and ’23. Both AFC West teams cut their starters — Derek Carr, Russell Wilson — weeks after elevating Stidham. A Lock promotion would undoubtedly lead to the Jones book closing in New York by March.

The Giants gave Jones a much longer runway than similar passers have received, as recent years have shown it is not uncommon for top-10 QB picks to be benched by Year 2. The team pulling the plug during Year 6 appears all but certain, and a 2025 effort to acquire a replacement brings the Daboll-Schoen regime into focus. With Jones’ fate all but sealed, the more interesting component here will be whether Schoen will be allowed to acquire the QB’s replacement.

GMs rarely receive second chances, which would create a seminal “what if?” for the veteran exec due to him doubling down on Jones — whom Mara has strongly supported in past offseasons — rather than going all out to land a potential upgrade. Schoen is running out of time to make a sales pitch, and this Jones decision will certainly play into Mara’s long-term thinking as he determines if another housecleaning is necessary.