5 biggest winners/losers from Daniel Jones’ huge contract with the Giants
By Zak Musso
Winner: Joe Schoen
It’s rare for both a quarterback and general manager to win contract negotiations, but that happened in this case. Despite Jones’ breakout 2022 season, he is still relatively unproven and has a lengthy injury history. Schoen mitigated some of the risks surrounding Jones by structuring his contract in a unique way.
Only $82 million of the $160 million in Jones’ contract is guaranteed, and all of the guarantees are in the first two years. If Jones has rough 2023 and 2024 seasons, the Giants can get out of Jones’ contract in the spring of 2025, and endure a relatively modest dead cap hit of $18 million, with no more guaranteed money due to the quarterback.
Jones’ cap hit in 2023 is only $21 million, which is significantly less than the $32.4 million cap hit he would have had if franchised tagged. By locking his quarterback, Schoen has additional flexibility to build up the roster.
All signs are pointing to the Giants being quite aggressive in free agency, as they’ll need to go after wide receivers, linebackers and more. With the way Schoen was able to get things done with Jones, he can now go after the other kinds of players he likes on both sides of the ball.