Daniel Jones must see large image in Giants negotiations

Ian O’Connor

NFL

By Ian O’Connor

March 3, 2023 | 9:35pm

At the beginning, a fast assessment of my articles of religion on Daniel Stephen Jones III: 

I do imagine that if the Giants establish, purchase and develop the required expertise to constantly contend, they’ll win a Super Bowl with Jones at quarterback. 

I do imagine that Jones has earned a profitable multiyear deal to stay the starter for the group that drafted him sixth total in 2019. 

I do imagine that, like anybody else in some other trade, Jones has the proper to ask for a wage which may appear outrageous from the surface trying in. 

But I additionally imagine that in a salary-capped sport corresponding to professional soccer, a very powerful participant — all the time the beginning quarterback — is greatest served by holding the group’s greatest pursuits in thoughts as contract talks veer towards the second of reality. Especially when that beginning quarterback will almost certainly by no means be adequate to hold his group to a championship. 

Patrick Mahomes and only some different individuals on the planet can do this sort of carrying. Jones? His upside is that of a second-tier star, an athletic and opportunistic playmaker who will want quite a lot of assist round him to win the entire thing. 

And that assist will likely be a lot tougher to signal if Jones bleeds each final doable penny out of the Giants’ coffers whereas taking part in a a lot rougher recreation of hardball than the group performed final yr when it declined his fifth-year possibility. 

It now appears Jones would possibly’ve lastly come to that realization, as phrase has hit that a point of progress is being made towards the ticking clock of the Tuesday franchise-tag deadline. Multiple league sources mentioned that Jones’ preliminary asking worth got here in at a whopping $47 million-$48 million per yr, greater than double the worth of his declined possibility. 

Talk about payback. 

Though the Giants had been by no means going to the touch that determine, they continue to be decided to finish a long-term deal that may keep away from the $32.4 million tag and the cap problems it could trigger. The group might get artistic with some large back-end cash that isn’t assured to ship Jones a contract that reads out at greater than $40 million a yr. 

So sure, Daniel Jones, who threw 15 landing passes final season, might brag to his boys in Hoboken that he’s acquired an even bigger annual wage than Aaron Judge, who hit 62 residence runs final season. But who’s counting? 

That is the quarterback-crazed world that we reside in. Jones isn’t the very best soccer participant on his group, but he’ll all the time be the Giants’ highest-paid participant — by far — for the stability of his prime. His place is all the things within the NFL. If you don’t have a quarterback, you don’t have an opportunity. 

Jones is wise sufficient to know that, which is why he acted the way in which he did after that blowout loss to the Eagles within the playoffs. He was requested twice if he needed to be the Giants quarterback in 2023, and each instances he declined to say “Yes.” The following day, when he moved to quiet the noise by stating his want to return and his love for all issues blue, Jones added that “there’s a business side of it, too.” 

He was all the time planning to make use of his leverage. Deep down, in a spot he would by no means present for public consumption, perhaps Jones was all the time hoping to make the Giants pay for refusing to choose up that final yr of his deal. 

Either approach, the exploding quarterback market has put Jones in place to make a killing. He could make that killing and assist the group put championship-level expertise round him, and now Jones must do each. 

He wants to offer a bit of on his calls for and attain a multi-year deal that provides the Giants the cap house wanted to signal some actual receivers and different assorted ballers on either side of the ball. Tom Brady signed a number of team-friendly contracts in New England to advance his reason behind successful as many titles as doable. Despite the mind-boggling contract numbers on the time (a 10-year, $450 million extension for a complete dedication of 12 years and $503 million), Mahomes really did the Chiefs an enormous cap-relief favor of their bid to maintain surrounding him with winners over the lengthy haul. 

Decades down the street, Brady and Mahomes will likely be remembered as the 2 better of all time. Jones ought to comply with their lead and make a deal that may assist the Giants take the subsequent step towards professional Super Bowl rivalry. That method would additionally assist out his good good friend and fellow free agent, Saquon Barkley, who has publicly propped up Jones through the years greater than anybody, even when the quarterback didn’t deserve it. 

Barkley is a helluva participant who can assist Jones win some video games. The Giants want extra gamers like that, and the cap house to amass them. 

At 25, Jones has earned the proper to turn into a really wealthy younger man. But by Tuesday afternoon, the quarterback who’s about to win some huge cash will declare how a lot he desires to win January and February soccer video games, too.