Why Giants might give Daniel Jones the Russell Wilson treatment this season
When the New York Giants signed quarterback Daniel Jones to a four-year, $160 million contract in March 2023, they reset the NFL quarterback market for guys that weren’t necessarily your top tier MVP candidates. They also fully guaranteed the first two years of the deal, but after 2024, New York can move on from Jones.
Here are all your questions about Daniel Jones’ contract.
The next big contract deadline for the Giants is the fifth day of the 2025 NFL league year in March when $12 million on Jones’ 2025 salary fully guarantees. If they cut him, they won’t owe him another cent. If he is still on the roster after that, the salary would be on the books for the season no matter what. Jones doesn’t receive a corresponding roster bonus, so in theory it costs the Giants $12 million to keep him through training camp. Once the league year starts, his remaining $18 million salary would fully guarantee as a vested veteran and they would pay him $30 million for the season.
One thing the Giants have done well to keep flexibility is not push too much of Jones’ cap hits into the future with signing bonuses and restructures. That allows them to cut Jones without any huge cap burdens into the future.
If Jones is cut after 2024, his dead cap hit is only $22.2 million but if he stays on the roster, his cap hit is $41.6 million. (Dead cap is money that’s already been paid to a player in bonuses but hasn’t yet been accounted for on the salary cap.) The Giants would see a lot of cap relief and even more cash relief by moving on from Jones, who has not lived up to the expectations of that contract.
Jones has made $82 million in the first two years of this contract extension with the New York Giants, an average of $41 million. The average for all four years of the contract is $40 million per season. Both numbers are 15th in the NFL.
In 2024, Jones is 23rd in completion percentage, 29th in yards per attempt and yards per completion, 26th in quarterback rating, 27th in QBR, 31st in touchdown percentage, and and 25th in passing success rate.
None of Jones’ money in 2025 is fully guaranteed yet, but if he’s injured and can no longer play football, his injury guarantee would kick in. According to Over the Cap, $23 million of Jones’ $30 million is guaranteed for injury. The Broncos did this with Russell Wilson when they knew they were going to cut him after the 2023 season, and they sat him down for his final games in Denver.
