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

On November 18, 2024By Littum

Daniel Jones‘time as New York Giants‘ Starting quarterback is coming to an end.

The Fighting are making a change at quarterback after their Week 11 bye, according to reports. Jones will be heading to the bench in the meantime Tommy DeVito will be elevated from the team’s third-string quarterback role to the starting job.

Drew Lockwho has served as the Giants’ backup quarterback all season, will remain in that role following DeVito’s promotion.

Jones’ benching is not a surprise. He did not perform well during the 2024 NFL season, leading the Giants to just a 2-8 record through 10 weeks and a 79.4 passer rating, good for the fourth-worst mark in the league.

Beyond that, benching Jones protects the Giants from an awkward situation that could have arisen if they 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 were injured.

Here’s what you need 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 signed with the Giants through 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 dollars
Average Annual Value (AAV): $40 million
Guaranteed money: $81 million

Jones’ extension was certainly lucrative, but the Giants protected themselves a bit by only guaranteeing half of it. That gives them the option 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 be guaranteed if he were sidelined by a long-term injury.

Daniel Jones Damage Guarantee

Jones had a $23 million injury guarantee built into his contract for the 2025 NFL season. That meant that 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 they owe him more money.

Had Jones lived up to expectations from his lucrative extensions, the Giants wouldn’t have worried much about those guarantees. They would gladly pay them to keep the quarterback around the team.

But Jones has not 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 doesn’t want his injury guarantee triggered, as that would make Jones’ contract more of an albatross than it already is.

That may well be the primary 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 will be able to part ways with him without risking the possibility of absorbing another $23 million in collateral damage.

If you are looking for a recent comparison to this situation, 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 incur a dead-cap charge of about $22.2 million for the Giants, saving them about $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 otherwise eventually owe him in salary. That could prove just as valuable in an offseason where the Giants will be looking for a long-term quarterback to replace Jones.