Former NY Giants QB Daniel Jones’s Agent Offered Insight into 11th Hour Contract Negotiations

Daniel Jones's agents took an unusual approach in getting his contract done with the Giants.

Former New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones | Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

It’s funny how things sometimes work out–or, in the case of the New York Giants, don’t work out.

Flashback to the 2023 season. The New York Giants were just coming off their first postseason appearance since 2016, one in which they won their first postseason game since 2011.

Quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley were both up for new contracts, the Giants having decided not to exercise Jones’s option year the prior spring.

The plan was to get Barkley under contract before the 2023 season so that they would have the franchise tag available to use for Jones, a quarterback about whom they were still unsure despite his having had a strong season in 2022.

Unfortunately for the Giants, things didn’t go according to plan. Barkley and his agent at the time decided to play hardball with the team, rejecting at least three contract proposals, including one presented to them during the 2023 bye week.

Jones, who had changed agents and who hadn’t been approached about an extension during the 2023 bye, decided to play ball after initially shooting for the moon.

Ultimately, his agents and the Giants reached a four-year, $160 million contract that was finalized just before the franchise tag window closed. With the deal signed, sealed, and delivered, that allowed the Giants to franchise Barley instead.

Jones’s deal, according to A.J. Stevens of Athletes First, might have been the most memorable contract he has ever been involved in.

The Daniel Jones 4-year, $160M deal with the Giants is one of the most memorable contracts that @aj__stevens helped negotiate — and he shares the behind-the-scenes details, including putting together a 42-page manifesto to make their case to the team.

“It was absurd at the… https://t.co/kqrZJG28Lz pic.twitter.com/uPAqPbE5bq

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) June 29, 2025

Stevens, who made that revelation during a podcast with Ari Meirov, said he compiled a 42-page document outlining the history of the quarterback position dating back to 2010 and where Jones fits into that history.

That document set the stage for the agency’s first proposal to secure a contract.

“It was absurd at the time,” Stevens admitted. “Looking back, it’s still absurd. (But) it inevitably got us to the point where we did a buzzer-beater deal where there were seconds left before the deadline.”

It’s unknown how much the final contract varied from what Stevens and his colleagues at Athletes first proposed, but the Giants made sure to protect themselves by leaving an out after two years if Jones didn’t work out.

Unfortunately for both parties, that turned out to be the case, and the Giants are still paying for that move, as $22.210 million of the $27.332 million in dead money is the remaining prorated bonus from Jones’s contract, which was terminated after ten games last season when the team agreed to release him after benching him to protect themselves from having an injury guarantee kick in.

Jones later signed with the Vikings to finish out last season. This past offseason, he signed with the Colts, where he'll compete with Anthony Richardson for the starting job.

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