NFL execs destroying Giants for Daniel Jones contract is glorious content for Cowboys fans

The Dallas Cowboys without question have put together the best offseason of any of their division rivals.

The Eagles made some notable moves, but lost far too many key players in free agency to take the cake, while Washington wants Sam Howell and Jacoby Brissett as its QBs instead of Lamar Jackson.

The Giants, on the other hand, have made some signings that should give Cowboys fans pause, including Parris Campbell and Bobby Okereke. They made other under-the-radar moves, too, but all of general manager Joe Schoen’s hard work has been overshadowed by the decision to overpay Daniel Jones.

Jones’ contract isn’t as dreadful as some media members and rival fans make it out to be, but it’s still laughable to think a QB who’s had one good-ish season is now making $82 million guaranteed and has an annual average salary of $40 million, which purportedly is what Jones wanted from jump street.

The fact the Giants’ braintrust caved to Jones’ demands is insane and league executives took the team to task in speaking to The Athletic’s Mike Sando while reviewing all 32 team’s free agency moves — the same piece in which executives praised the Cowboys acquiring Stephon Gilmore and Brandin Cooks.

Cowboys fans will love the Giants getting slammed over Daniel Jones’ contract

How crazy are the terms of Jones’ deal? One executive believes the G-Men should’ve negotiated a contract with Saquon Barkley instead.

"“They would have been better off doing a bad deal with Saquon Barkley and (franchise) tagging Jones rather than the other way around. Who was going to step out and pay Daniel Jones? That one was wild.”"

The exec makes a good point. While paying RBs top-dollar is frowned upon these days, it seems misguided to bank on Jones being a franchise quarterback after one season of consistent play. Before 2022, Jones was a bottom-tier QB renowned for having more turnovers than touchdown passes.

Perhaps the Giants could have signed Barkley at good value. The running back market was disastrous in free agency, so much so that Tony Pollard was quick to sign his $10.09 million franchise tag tender.

For all of the strides Jones made last season, he still threw only 15 touchdowns. Yes, he accounted for seven rushing scores, but one would expect a $40 million quarterback to throw no fewer than 25 TD passes.

"“That is surprising that they didn’t try to squeeze (Jones) a little bit, but the new regime just got there and won with him,” another exec said. “They probably want to continue to instill confidence in him. They overpaid Eli (Manning) in the past. That could just be a position they don’t want to mess around with and get too cute with.”"

Excuse me? Not wanting to mess around and get too cute is suddenly justification to hand a quarterback $82 million guaranteed over two years? Is that not why the franchise tag exists? To avoid overpaying an unproven QB?

Best of all? It might cost the Giants Saquon Barkley, who won’t sign the franchise tag and therefore can’t participate in the team’s offseason workout (seemingly) until his contract situation is resolved.

Oops!

Jones is a nice player who brings everything Dak Prescott does in terms of leadership and off-field intangibles. That doesn’t mean he’s worth $40 million a year, though. Expect the outrage to continue once the Giants take the field in 2023 and Jones doesn’t perform up to snuff.

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