New York Giants 2024 Training Camp Preview: QB Daniel Jones

Jones is entering the second year of his four-year, $160 million deal, and this is a big one.

First, the numbers. Jones accounts for $47.855 million, or 18.4 percent of the Giants’ 2024 cap space. He has $36 million guaranteed, which is a big reason the team hung onto him and why they are likely to restructure his deal if they need cap space.

The last of Jons’s guaranteed money evaporates after this year, but that comes with a caveat. If he is on the roster past March 16, 2025, $12 million of his $30 million base salary becomes fully guaranteed. 

In 2025, he’ll contribute $41.605 million, or an estimated 16 percent of the estimated cap. If he is a pre-June 1 cut, the Giants will save $19.395 million but take a $22.210 million dead money hit.

If he is designated as a post-June 1 transaction, the team saves $30.5 million with an $11.105 million dead money hit in 2025 and 2026. The transaction would have to be made before the March 15 deadline to avoid the $12 million guaranteed money trigger entering the picture.

We’ll discuss the injury guarantee in the next section.  

What’s interesting about Jones and the pressures he’s been directly responsible for is that he’s actually in the same cluster as Patrick Mahomes in that department. Mahomes led the NFL in pressures he allowed (54). Had Jones played a full season, he was on pace for 48 pressures, which would have been third in the league.

The difference, though, is that Mahomes more frequently made plays with his arm, eyes, anticipation, and instinct to slow down the rush, whereas Jones did not.

Not surprisingly, the Giants looked to upgrade the position, having their heart set on landing former North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye, who went to the New England Patriots with this overall pick. 

When the Giants couldn’t trade up to get Maye, they held their water, selecting receiver Malik Nabers with the sixth overall pick in the hopes that he’d help Jones and the offense moving forward.

But make no mistake about it. That the Giants looked to upgrade the position tells you everything you need to know about how they feel about the quarterback position, regardless of what they say. 

The good news is that Jones can still seize the bull by the horns and quell any doubts the front office might have about him. 

It’s going to be a challenge, though, as we still need to see if the ACL takes away any of his athleticism, which has been a main tool in his toolbox, and how he functions now that Barkley, who, along with Nabers, would have created multiple headaches for opponents to figure out how to stop, is no longer on the team.

Also working against him is the injury guarantee in his contract this year. If Jones cannot pass a physical by next spring, $23 million of the 2025 base salary becomes guaranteed for injury, regardless if he’s on the roster.

That means if the Giants get off to a slow start this year, they could, to protect themselves from having to pay that guarantee, pull Jones in favor of Drew Lock, similar to how the Raiders pulled Derek Carr and the Broncos Russell Wilson to avoid the possibility of having to pay an injury guarantee. 

To do so, though, would send a message to the locker room that they’re raising the white flag on the season, which is why the Giants might not be so quick to do that even if they hit a skid.   

Jones spent the spring with a chip on his shoulder, clearly annoyed with people bringing up the Giants’ unusually heavy interest in quarterbacks and questioning whether he would be ready to roll in what’s a critical season for him–all evidenced by his sometimes short and curt answers.

But they’re legitimate questions. Jones has had five seasons to show he can be the guy. He showed it in one season in which everything around him was, for the most part, perfect. 

The ball is in his court now. He must show the Giants that their inability to get Drake Maye is a blessing in disguise.