New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones wanted to get paid And he did –nicely. Big Blue gave the 25-year-old signal-caller a four-year, $160 million extension, while also placing the franchise tag on RB Saquon Barkley, according to reports.
One of the deadly sins an athlete can commit is being overpaid. No matter how they got it – whether it’s a heist or an incompetent front office – if the fans don’t think you’re worth the salary cap you hit, every complaint is punctuated with “…and we’re paying him $150 million! Tobias Harris is a solid role player, but Philadelphia 76ers fans will never let that contract go. New York Mets fans feel that for literally everyone they sign. And we’re getting close to that. point with the New York Giants and Daniel Jones.
The team didn’t pick Jones’ fifth-year option before the season, he had a useful turnaround year under new coach Brian Daboll, won a playoff game and was he is rumored to fetch north of $40 million a year. even dimes changed agents to show how serious he is about his delusion.
Being overpaid in a market like New York is harsher than almost any other place, and it doesn’t take much for fans and the media to shift the narrative from overachievers to overpaid. Ask Julius Randle.
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It appears signing Jones to a modest contract is a pipedream, and I’d love to hear Eli Manning’s thoughts on whether the G-Men should still give Jones that long-term contract. But he doesn’t have a Lays product for sale this week, so you’ll just have to settle for a guy on the internet to make comments and then expand on them.
Who are the other QBs getting an extra $40 million?
The biggest buttresses of Jones’ argument are guys like Matthew Stafford, Russell Wilson, Deshaun Watson, Kyler Murray and even Aaron Rodgers. Jones arguably topped them all a year ago, and no one on that list makes less than $40 million. However, all of those names got that money from previous work, and the Browns are… the Browns.
The other guys making that kind of money are Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. Soon, Joe Burrow and Jalen Hurts will join this club, and Jones will stay with Dak Prescott at the party, talking about what the media doesn’t understand about their games.
Nothing Danny Spare Change has done is bring his career close to the heights of these quarterbacks, and I don’t care if Jones won a playoff game. He had a competent year and only managed 22 total touchdowns. There’s no way a front office or coaching staff would look at his resume and say for sure, “We can win a Super Bowl with Daniel Jones.”
Giving Jones the franchise tag ruins Saquon Barkley’s future
The reason Jones’ contract negotiation is so crucial is that if they can’t figure it out, he’ll end up getting the franchise tag over Saquon Barkley. The star running back says he’s approaching a new contract realistically, but even the most realistic offer will be an insult. There’s more than enough evidence that giving running backs a lot of money is cap embezzlement, and I don’t think Giants general manager Joe Schoen is an idiot.
If the Giants can’t bring Barkley back, they could find a worthy replacement. That’s usually how it works with running backs. However, if they don’t, and with the wide receiver/draft class market as it is, the team could have an even bigger deficit in playmaking than it did in 2022.
Eight of the Giants’ nine wins last season were by a score, and the team is begging to be a candidate for regression. They don’t need to actively promote this cause by losing their best player and/or quarterback.
Giants have an outing with Jones and should explore it
I’m from the camp that finds a quarterback is really tough, and constant turnover leads to a Jets or Browns type situation where it’s a self-defeating prophecy QB after QB after QB. So if the Giants are going to franchise Jones, and he sucks next year, they need a more bankable insurance policy than tanking for Caleb Williams.
A guy like Hendon Hooker, the Tennessee QB who should have been at the Heisman ceremony even after tearing his ACL, is worth a midterm pick and will need a year off. Let’s say the teams figure out the play option tricks that Jones did so well, and the Giants end up 6-11 or 7-10. If you franchise him, then there’s an exit or at least that’s proof that he should rethink his demands and have a willing backup with a big upside waiting for him in the wings.
The alternative — Jones building on last year and becoming a pretty consistent guy to maybe steal a Super Bowl or two à la Eli Manning — is when you pay him $40 million, because it definitely shouldn’t. arrive this offseason.