The quarterback will continue to wear his well-known No. 8 blue jersey thanks to the Giants’ announcement today that they have signed Daniel Jones to a four-year deal with $82 million in guaranteed money.
New York Giants shared a tweet on Twitter: “WELCOME BACK DJ”
WELCOME BACK DJ ‼️ pic.twitter.com/QKcd4xIibK
— New York Giants (@Giants) March 8, 2023
On March 15, the start of the NFL season, Jones was slated to become a free agent. By today’s deadline of 4 p.m., the Giants would have given Jones the franchise tag if the two parties had not agreed.
That would have given Jones and the team until July 17 to agree. Jones’ franchise tag salary of more than $32 million would have taken up a significant portion of the team’s available space under the salary cap, limiting their ability to sign free agents.
“We had productive conversations with Daniel and his representatives over the course of the past week or so,” said general manager Joe Schoen.
“We are all pleased that we were able to come to an agreement prior to today’s deadline. This gives us a greater ability to continue to build our roster.”
The long-term contract enables the Giants to lower the cap amount this season and succeeding ones significantly.
In 2022, Jones’ fourth season since the Giants selected him sixth overall in the 2019 NFL Draft, he had his best season. He will age 26 in May.
The Giants rested most of their starters in the season finale at Philadelphia since they were assured of the sixth seed in the NFC playoffs.
Still, he would have played in all 17 games, setting a career-best for starts in the regular season. In Jones’ starts with the Giants, they went 9-6-1 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
Jones steered the Giants to their first postseason victory since 2011, leading them to a wild-card playoff victory in Minnesota.
“I said after the season I love this place,” Jones said. “I’ve really enjoyed my time here and I want to be here. I have great respect for this organization, the Maras, the Tisches, my coaches and teammates. I am happy we were able to come to an agreement.”
Jones led the NFL and set a franchise mark by throwing an interception on just 1.1% of his passes, finished with 3,205 passing yards and a 92.5 passer rating, both career highs, and completed a Giants-record 67.2% of his passes.
THAT'S OUR QB 😤 pic.twitter.com/dL1ZG0nQQH
— New York Giants (@Giants) March 8, 2023
He also set a team record (five in 472 throws). The only other Giants quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era to lead qualified passers in interception percentage in a season are Kurt Warner (1.4 in 2004) and Jeff Hostetler (1.4 in 1991).
Together with his skill with the pass, Jones was second on the team with 708 running yards and seven touchdowns—both firsts for a quarterback for the Giants.
Jones was the fourth quarterback in NFL history to accomplish this feat with at least 3,200 passing yards, a 65+ completion percentage, and 700 or more rushing yards in a season.
In the playoff win over the Vikings, Jones ran for a team-high 78 yards while completing 24 of 35 passes for 301 yards and two touchdowns.
He was the first quarterback to record 300+ passing yards, two touchdown passes, and 70+ rushing yards in a single game in the NFL playoffs.
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After securing Jones’ services, the Giants gave Saquon Barkley the non-exclusive franchise tag.
This will enable them to prioritize talks with some of their other free agents, such as safety Julian Love; wide receivers Richie James, Darius Slayton, and Sterling Shepard; offensive linemen Jon Feliciano and Nick Gates; and linebacker Jihad Ward, while also continuing negotiations for a long-term contract with Barkley until the deadline of July 17.
