After an encouraging season in 2022, the Giants offered Daniel Jones a four-year, $160 million contract. Not even two years later, the team pulled the plug by relegating the quarterback to the bench and everything indicates that we are not about to see him again.
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Not only does Daniel Jones lose his position to Tommy DeVito, but Drew Lock will act as a reserve. This sums up how dizzying the fall of Jones, the Giants’ sixth overall pick in 2019, is.
It must be said that the organization has no choice but to keep its quarterback off the field. The results aren’t there, but first of all, if Jones were to get injured before the end of this miserable season, he would get $23 million in guaranteed money next season.
The Giants therefore relegated him to the rank of third quarterback for football reasons, but also for economic reasons. The further he is from the field, the better off the Giants will be in a financial position.
A season to forget
With their record of two wins and eight losses, they no longer have the slightest hope of qualifying for the playoffs.
In his last start last week, Jones threw two interceptions, bringing his total to seven this season.
In 2022, in head coach Brian Daboll’s first season at the helm of the team, the Giants caused quite a surprise by finishing with a 9-6-1 record, earning a playoff spot.
Jones was having good times with 15 touchdown passes and only five interceptions.
The Giants, however, erred in granting him a big contract after a single interesting season, but far from grandiose. He will visibly be thanked at the end of the campaign and, even if his contract was not fully guaranteed, he will still have pocketed 82 million for two years of service.
Those two years represent just 14 games and 10 touchdown passes, while he missed 11 games last year.
The Giants will have to assume 22 million in salary for deadwood next season on their salary cap. This will be the end of a disaster that could have been avoided, when they awarded such a contract to a quarterback who, all in all, has not broken anything since his debut.
Funny choice
It is Tommy DeVito that the Giants will trust to try to revive. – Getty Images via AFP
The fact that Jones is benched is very well justified. However, it was reasonable to believe that the Giants were going to give an opportunity to Drew Lock, a second-round pick in 2019 who had looked pretty good last season in Seattle, replacing Geno Smith.
Tommy DeVito made a good impression last season when Jones was injured, with eight touchdown passes in six games, but the undrafted player quickly showed his limitations.
As for the possibility of drafting their quarterback of the future next spring, the options appear to be rather limited.
The first quarterback chosen could be Shedeur Sanders, the University of Colorado center and the son of former legend Deion Sanders, who is also that program’s head coach.
However, no one among the available quarterbacks seems to have the guaranteed makings of a true first-class player.
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