Getty Image / Mitchell Leff
Since the end of the New York Giants‘ season, there have been rumors circulating about how much money Daniel Jones is expecting to make on his contract extension.
Reports had been saying he was looking to make $45 million dollars per year.
Just about everybody believed that number was too high.
It turns out that Jones may have actually wanted more.
According to the New York Post’s Ian O’Connor, Jones was actually looking to $47 or $48 million a year when negotiations with the Giants began.
League sources said that at the start of negotiations Daniel Jones initially asked for $47-48 million a pop, which, among other things, would be more than double the value of his fifth-year option that the Giants declined last year.
Ouch
— Ian O'Connor (@Ian_OConnor) March 3, 2023
The bigger issue than how horrendous it would have been to pay Daniel Jones that much money is what it would have done to the quarterback market.
If you pay Daniel Jones 47 or 48 million dollars, what does the price become for an elite quarterback?
Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert are due for contract extensions soon. Those two would have to be worth over $55 million a year if Jones is worth 48.
Lamar Jackson is currently in a contract dispute with the Baltimore Ravens as they work on an extension. He wants a contract that looks like the fully-guaranteed $46 million per year that Deshaun Watson received from the Browns. The Ravens have been reluctant to give it to him.
If Jones got $48 per year, it would look pretty ridiculous for the Ravens to not be willing to give Jackson what he has been looking for.
As it stands, nobody in the league averages more than Aaron Rodgers, who makes just over $50 million per year. Russell Wilson is the only other QB who would have been making more than Jones.
At that point, not only would you be looking at massive numbers for the quarterbacks due for extensions, but you’d have to think players like Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes would be re-negotiating their deals too.
Luckily, it looks like the New York Giants have decided to more reasonably pay him in the lower 40s, preventing a complete disaster for the quarterback market.