Daniel Jones’ time as the New York Giants’ starting quarterback is coming to an end.
The Giants are making a change at quarterback following their Week 11 bye, per reports. Jones will be heading to the bench while Tommy DeVito will be elevated from the team’s third-string quarterback role to the starting job.
Jones’ benching isn’t a surprise. He didn’t perform well during the 2024 NFL season, leading the Giants to just a 2-8 record through 10 weeks and posting a passer rating of 79.4, good for the fourth-worst mark in the league.
Beyond that, benching Jones protects the Giants from an awkward situation that could have arisen had they kept playing him. The veteran quarterback has an injury guarantee in his contract that would have made it more difficult to release him in 2025 had he gotten hurt.
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Here’s what to know about Jones’ contract and the role it played in his benching.
Daniel Jones contract details
Jones is in the second year of a four-year, $160 million extension he inked with the Giants in 2023, following the expiration of his rookie contract. Below are the full details of the contract, per Spotrac.com:
Term: 4 years
Total value: $160 million
Average annual value (AAV): $40 million
Guaranteed money: $81 million
Jones’ extension was certainly lucrative, but the Giants slightly protected themselves by guaranteeing only half of it. That gives them the ability to get out of the contract during the 2025 NFL offseason while absorbing a dead cap hit of just over $22.2 million.
That said, there was one potential wrinkle in that plan: a significant portion of Jones 2025 salary would become guaranteed if he was sidelined by a long-term injury.
Daniel Jones injury guarantee
Jones had a $23 million injury guarantee baked into his contract for the 2025 NFL season. That meant if he suffered a significant injury, the Giants would have to guarantee $23 million of his $30 million base salary for the campaign.
Without the injury guarantee, none of Jones’ $30 million salary would be guaranteed until the fifth day of the new NFL league year in March. That would give the Giants ample time to release Jones before owing him any more money.
Had Jones lived up to the expectations set by his lucrative extensions, the Giants wouldn’t have worried much about those guarantees. They would be happy to pay them to keep the quarterback around the team.
But Jones hasn’t been up to snuff. As such, New York will likely look to get out of his contract after the 2024 NFL season. That means the team will not want his injury guarantee to trigger, as it would make Jones’ contract more of an albatross than it already is.
That well may be the primary reason that the Giants benched Jones, despite general manager Joe Schoen’s insistence that the choice would be a ‘football decision’ based on on-field performances. Sitting Jones guarantees he won’t get hurt, so New York will be able to part with him without risking the possibility of absorbing an additional $23 million in collateral damage.
If you’re looking for a recent comparison to this situation, the Denver Broncos took this approach with Russell Wilson before the end of the 2023 NFL season to save themselves from guaranteeing $37 million of his salary for 2024. They were much closer to contention than the Giants, so it’s hardly a surprise to see New York take the same approach with Jones.
Daniel Jones cap hit, dead cap hit for 2025
Jones is budgeted for a cap hit of just over $41.6 million in 2025, per Spotrac.com. Releasing him would carry a dead-cap charge of about $22.2 million for the Giants, which would save them roughly $19.4 million in overall cap space.
New York would also receive a cash boon from the move, as the Giants would get out of paying Jones the $30 million they would otherwise eventually owe him in salary. That could prove just as valuable during an offseason where the Giants will be looking for a long-term quarterback to replace Jones.