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Giants, Daniel Jones Contract Talks Headed to Eleventh Hour

The Giants and representatives for quarterback Daniel Jones will now try to get something done before Tuesday's tag deadline.
Patricia Traina|
Giants, Daniel Jones Contract Talks Headed to Eleventh Hour
Giants, Daniel Jones Contract Talks Headed to Eleventh Hour

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New York Giants

The New York Giants and representatives for quarterback Daniel Jones have been ramping up their talks toward reaching a new contract agreement, talks that continued in the past week in person at the combine.

While general manager Joe Schoen expressed some optimism about getting something done sooner than later and admitted to the gap closing just a bit, the gap between the two sides still isn't close enough to where an agreement was struck before the parties departed Indianapolis, according to an NFL Network report.

The two sides still have time--though not much of it--to get a deal done before Tuesday's 4 p.m. deadline for designating franchise and transition tags. Schoen told reporters last week that while he would prefer not to use the tag on Jones, he was prepared to do so if necessary, the cost of which would take $32.4 million out of the Giants' available cap space, which would limit Schoen's options regarding upgrading a roster that finished 9-7-1 last year.

The good news for the Giants is that the March 7 deadline is a soft deadline, meaning that if they were to use the tag on Jones, so long as they got a deal done by March 15, the official start of free agency, they would be able to recoup a large chunk of the lost cap space.

In that case, the Giants would have to ensure that Jones received the equivalent of the franchise tag, which is automatically guaranteed once signed, in cash payouts for the first year of his deal, a figure that would be mostly covered by the projected signing bonus of $20-$25 million alone.

The bad news, however, is that once they use the tag on Jones, it would not be available to use on running back Saquon Barkley, regardless if the Giants strike a deal with the quarterback before March 15.

There have been numerous reports of Jones wanting between $40-$45 million per year in his new deal, whereas the Giants are said to be looking at around $35-$36 million.

Ultimately if a deal does get done, both sides will probably land somewhere in the middle, at around $37-$38 million. The Giants could include Not Likely to Be Earned (NLTBE) incentives such as bonuses for winning postseason games, passing yardage totals, and touchdowns that could potentially push the total annual value of the deal upwards toward the $50 million mark if the incentives are met.

And if that's the case, the cap space for those NLTBE incentives wouldn't count against the Giants' salary cap until 2024, assuming they are met in the 2023 season.

According to a report by the New York Post, if a multiyear deal isn't reached by Tuesday, the Giants may be inclined to break off negotiations with Jones and will let him play out the 2023 season on the tag, which they could use again in 2024 if Jones continues to develop.

 

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Patricia Traina
PATRICIA TRAINA

Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for 30+ seasons, and her work has appeared in multiple media outlets, including The Athletic, Forbes, Bleacher Report, and the Sports Illustrated media group. As a credentialed New York Giants press corps member, Patricia has also covered five Super Bowls (three featuring the Giants), the annual NFL draft, and the NFL Scouting Combine. She is the author of The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants. In addition to her work with New York Giants On SI, Patricia hosts the Locked On Giants podcast. Patricia is also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and the Football Writers Association of America.

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