The Daniel Jones Dilemma
Daily Snark
East Rutherford, New Jersey (PSF) - Giants quarterback Daniel Jones has been the talk of the town in the NFL when it comes to quarterback contracts and the inflated quarterback market present in today’s NFL landscape.
On Monday morning, NFL news source Dov Kleiman reported that Jones wants more than the Giants have offered him, possibly as much as $45 million per year. Additionally, the fact that Jones has now switched agents from CAA to Athletes First.
With the NFL season now over, Jones has taken up a lot of airtime on sports radio and NFL talk shows this week as the focal point of the debate of whether he should be given a $45 million per year contract over multiple seasons. Some have supported Jones, mainly Giants fans in his business negotiating tactic, while most people are in agreement that Jones does not deserve the big pay day.
Jones’ NFL career thus far has been a bumpy one to put it nicely, which started when he was selected number six overall in the 2019 NFL Draft by the New York Giants.
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To sum up Jones’ professional career so far, the Giants did everything they could have to set him up for failure until they decided to part ways with former General Manager Dave Gettleman and Jones’ second Head Coach of his career Joe Judge. The Giants were finally willing to get outside of their comfort zone and hire from outside of the organization with Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen, and so far the two hires have looked like the right ones.
The three biggest things when it came to Jones before they hired Daboll and Schoen have been a lack of consistency, continuity, and help around him. In fact, Giants owner John Mara has even said that “We’ve done everything possible to screw this kid up since he’s been here”. Over the course of his four past seasons in New York, Jones has found himself working with three different Head Coaches and Offensive Coordinators, bottom of the barrel offensive line units, and no other help around him on the outside besides running back Saquon Barkley. As a result, Jones has been labeled a “bust”, “turnover machine”, and has drawn many comparisons to former number one overall pick, Jameis Winston.
However, once Schoen and Daboll stepped into the fold this past season, those narratives have been quietly put to bed. This past season under Daboll and Offensive Coordinator Mike Kafka, Jones posted career bests in completion percentage (67.2%), passing yards (3,205), rushing yards (708), turnovers (only 11), and rushing touchdowns (7). It is safe to say that Jones finally now has the right and proper coaching staff around him who play to his strengths as a quarterback. The biggest ones being his legs and threat as a runner as Jones still lacks the game breaking wide receiver one that only a certain amount of quarterbacks have. However, there was a midseason emergence of wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins who was Jone's’ number one target since the Giants acquired him in early November.
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Before the 2022-2023 NFL season started, General Manager Joe Schoen declined Jones’ fifth year option, which was the right decision at the time. Jones did not prove anything worthy of getting his fifth-year option picked up during the first three seasons of his career. Looking back on the move nearly a year later, Schoen should have actually picked up his option because Jones silenced the critics and proved the doubters wrong this past season. Not only did Jones have the best season of his career up to date, but he also led the Giants to their first playoff birth since 2016. This included a wild card win over the Minnesota Vikings in which Jones had the best game of his season and career at the biggest moment of his career, throwing for 300 yards and two touchdowns in the stellar performance.
Schoen and Daboll have prioritized bringing Jones back this offseason, but now the question becomes for how much and for how long? One option the Giants can use is the franchise tag if they want to see another consistent season out of Jones and put him to the test one more time. However, the problem with the franchise tag is that it will take up $32 million of the Giants’ $43 million in cap space that they have to work with this offseason. Additionally, this move would strap and prohibit the Giants from resigning superstar running back Saquon Barkley to a long-term deal if they choose to do so. This would also prohibit them from putting real help around Jones besides Barkley, which has been one of the biggest misfortunes of Jones’ career.
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This now opens up the conversation and flood gates of what a long-term contract extension could look like for Jones if the Giants do not decide to place the tag on him. One thing is for certain: Jones is not worth $45 million annually over multiple years. The Giants would be crazy to dish out that kind of lucrative deal to Jones when he has only had one definitive good season in the NFL. Not to mention, Jones taking over $45 million of the cap over multiple seasons only hurts his chances of getting more help around him when that much is being paid to him. Jones played well this past season mainly because of the coaching he received, not what he did personally as a quarterback. Essentially, Jones is good because of what is around him and not himself. He does not have the ability to take over games by himself and deliver other worldly performances like the top quarterbacks in the league like Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, and Josh Allen. These are the quarterbacks who deserve the bag and big paycheck, not Jones.
If Jones were to receive a $45 million annual contract, this would put him in the same range as quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson, Kyler Murray, Russell Wilson, and Aaron Rodgers. Jones is not better than any of these quarterbacks and has not shown that he can be consistent like these upper echelon signal callers.
The next tier of quarterbacks include Josh Allen, Matthew Stafford, Dak Prescott, Kirk Cousins, and Jared Goff who all make anywhere from $33 million to $43 million annually. After that, the list contains Carson Wentz, Matt Ryan, Ryan Tannehill, Tom Brady, and Baker Mayfield who all make anywhere from $15 million to $32 million annually.
The problem with today’s current quarterback market is that there is no middle ground and class for quarterbacks like Daniel Jones to be in. In other words, the next quarterback who is up for a big pay day automatically ends up shattering the market with a big contract. A few noteworthy examples of who will be getting paid soon by one franchise or another are Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson, and Jalen Hurts which makes signing Daniel Jones to a long term deal a task that needs to be completed immediately. This way, Jones would not be massively overpaid just because of the market and what other quarterbacks are getting who are undoubtedly better than him.
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Looking at the current market before Burrow, Herbert, Jackson, and Hurts sign their deals, Jones is way better than the quarterbacks who make up the third tier of contracts (Wentz, Ryan, Tannehill, Brady, Mayfield). This would then put Jones in the second tier of quarterback contracts which include Allen, Stafford, Prescott, Cousins, and Goff. Jones is undeniably worse than Allen, but you can certainly make the argument that he belongs with and is in the same quarterback tier ranking as guys like Stafford, Prescott, Cousins, and Goff.
Personally, if I was General Manager Joe Schoen, I would offer Jones a three- or four-year deal with an out after year one or year two. In terms of the money, I would give Jones anywhere from $33 million to $35 million. This way, you would still have your quarterback in place and Jones would have to prove that he is worth the money for another year. This gives yourself the flexibility to draft a quarterback like Florida’s Anthony Richardson in this year’s class who has a super high ceiling if you are still not sold on Jones. This blueprint and model is very similar to the one that the Chiefs conducted with former quarterback Alex Smith and current quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Look at the way that that has turned out.
One way or another, one thing is for certain: Daniel Jones will be back as the starting quarterback for the New York Giants next season. Schoen and Daboll have made it clear that they want Jones, and Jones has made it clear that he wants the Giants. Now the only questions that are left to be answered are for how long and for how much. All of this to add a fifth trophy together as the new regime for Big Blue.
