Giants make decision to bench Daniel Jones, and here's the real reason behind it
The New York Giants have finally made the obvious decision. On Monday, the team decided to bench quarterback Daniel Jones, and they will go with Drew Lock and/or Tommy DeVito for the final seven games of the regular season. Last week, general manager Joe Schoen said it would be an on-field decision. "We're going to […]
The New York Giants have finally made the obvious decision. On Monday, the team decided to bench quarterback Daniel Jones, and they will go with Drew Lock and/or Tommy DeVito for the final seven games of the regular season.
Last week, general manager Joe Schoen said it would be an on-field decision.
"We're going to evaluate everything the rest of the week," Schoen said on Tuesday. "The decisions we make will be football decisions."
While it's ok to say that publicly, that's clearly not the real reason why the Giants made this move right now. Sure, there might be some improvement on the quarterback play because Jones hasn't been a great option to this point.
But it's his contract that ultimately motivated the Giants to pull the trigger.
How it works
Last year, the Giants gave Daniel Jones a four-year, $160 million extension. But there are no fully guarantees left — they were the signing bonus, the 2023 base salary, and the 2024 base salary. The Giants can, and probably will, easily move on from the deal next offseason. On the fifth day of the league 2025 year in March, $12 million of his salary would become guaranteed to motivate an early decision, and the release is the most likely outcome.
However, $23 million of Jones' $30.5 million salary in 2025 are injury guaranteed at signing. It means that if Daniel Jones gets hurt over the final few weeks of the season and can't pass a physical by March, the Giants will have to keep his contract for next season.
Maybe Daniel Jones is better than Drew Lock and Tommy DeVito. But with eight touchdowns, seven interceptions, and a 79.4 passer rating in 2024, he's certainly not good enough to justify the risk of putting the franchise's future in danger.
Giving Daniel Jones that type of contract after an outlier 2022 season — that wasn't even that good to begin with — was the biggest mistake made by the current Giants' management structure. Benching him is the first step trying to correct that.
When and how the New York Giants can get rid of Daniel Jones’ contract
Jones signed a four-year extension last offseason
