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    • How Daniel Jones’ benching affects Giants QB’s contract, 2025 status
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    How Daniel Jones’ benching affects Giants QB’s contract, 2025 status

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    Daniel Jones’ stint as the New York Giants’ starting quarterback is coming to an end.

    According to reports, the Giants are making a change at quarterback following their Week 11 bye. Jones will move to the bench, while Tommy DeVito will be promoted from the team’s third quarterback role to the starting job.

    Drew Lock, who served as the Giants’ backup quarterback all season, will continue in that role following DeVito’s promotion.

    Jones’ benching is no surprise. He did not 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.

    In addition, having Jones on the bench protects the Giants from a tough situation that could have arisen if they had continued to play him. The veteran quarterback has an injury guarantee in his contract that would have made it more difficult to release him in 2025 if he had been injured.

    Here’s what you need to know about Jones’ contract and the role it played in his benching.

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    Daniel Jones contract details

    Jones is in the second year of a four-year, $160 million extension he signed with the Giants in 2023 after 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 protected themselves somewhat by only guaranteeing half of it. That gives them the opportunity to get out of the contract during the 2025 NFL season while taking a dead cap hit of just over $22.2 million.

    That said, there was one potential wrinkle to that plan: A significant portion of Jones’ 2025 salary would be guaranteed if he were sidelined by a long-term injury.

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    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 plenty of time to release Jones before owing him any more money.

    Had Jones met the expectations of his lucrative extensions, the Giants wouldn’t have had much concern about those guarantees. They would like to pay them to keep the quarterback on the team.

    But Jones hasn’t been about to sniffle. As such, New York will likely look to terminate his contract after the 2024 NFL season. That means the team doesn’t want its injury bond to kick in, which would make Jones’ contract even more of an albatross than it already is.

    That might be the main reason the Giants benched Jones, despite general manager Joe Schoen’s insistence that the pick would be a “football decision” based on on-field performance. Sitting Jones guarantees he won’t get hurt, so New York can part ways with him without risking another $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 2024 salary. They were much closer to contention than the Giants, so it’s no surprise that New York is taking the same approach as Jones.

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    Daniel Jones cap hit, dead cap hit for 2025

    Jones is projected to carry a cap hit of just over $41.6 million through 2025, according to Spotrac.com. Releasing him would leave the Giants with a dead cap burden of approximately $22.2 million, leaving them with approximately Would save $19.4 million in total cap space.

    New York would also receive a monetary favor from the move, as the Giants would have to pay Jones the $30 million they would otherwise ultimately owe him in salary. That could be just as valuable during an offseason where the Giants will be looking for a long-term quarterback to replace Jones.

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