So it’s looking like Caleb Williams to Chicago at No. 1 and then someone to DC at No. 2…and beyond that, are the Giants looking to trade up to No. 3 for a possible shot at Drake Maye?
“Dianna Russini just tweeted out that teams trying to move up for quarterback and calling Washington are being told they are not moving,” JP read on Tuesday, when BMitch replied that “I just heard something about the Giants thinking about moving up to get Drake Maye, because they know that their quarterback SUCKS.”
JP Finlay has a hard time believing the Giants could draft a QB, and move up even, when they just paid Daniel Jones, but if the words are true that Maye could stand to sit and learn for a while?
”It’s interesting, because if you're the Giants and you're at six, they know other people want him too, but the other part of it is there's some injury guarantee money,” JP said. “I have a million Twitter GMs telling me they could cut Daniel Jones after this year so what's the big deal, but there's a number of things that are a big deal. One, you just committed $45 mil a year to the dude, but two, there's injury guaranteed money on the third year of that contract. It's not as simple as some people think.”
“And see, guys are kind of smart these days, too,” Brian replied. “I know I got that guarantee, I might have an injury that you really can't find, or a concussion.”
All that, and the obvious as JP had initially thought…
“Can you play him if you draft a guy because you wanna replace him?” JP asked. “He has an injury guarantee, so the second you put him on the field, you're bringing that injury guarantee into play.”
“Yeah, see, and people would think, oh, that doesn't happen, but look, man, I've been around this game for a long time, and it happens,” Brian said. “Guys know what injuries to say they have, because certain injuries can be truly found out, but some of them can't. It used to be the spine, something dealing with your neck; now, it’s concussions, because everybody that think they know, don't know a damn thing about them.”
Jones has a $48 million cap number for this year, so no way he’s getting cut now, but next year, it’s about $22 million dead money and a $19 million cap savings…we think?
“For everybody that tells me how easy it is to get rid of this guy, you almost have to cut him now, because $23 million of the 2025 base salary is guaranteed for injury at signing,” JP said, “with 12 million of that scheduled to vest into a full guarantee at the start of the ‘25 league year. So you almost kind of can't play him, because if you play him and he gets hurt, then you have to guarantee $23 mil – and you gotta cut him early next year, because if he starts the league year, middle of March next year, on your roster, he gets paid $12 mil more guaranteed. These guys have agents, they do a job, and it’s not as simple as they can get out of the deal after this year.”
Well, they CAN, but what about 2024?
“If you draft a guy like Drake Maye, that by and large people say needs a year to watch, who's playing for you?” JP asked. “Someone has to play the games, because you know what Brian Daboll needs? A winning season. You know what Joe Schoen needs? A winning season. That's a weird crossroads up there. I think the Commanders are in a better position, where it's like, yeah, they obviously need a quarterback, rather than ‘we're paying this one dude $40 mil, but we still need a quarterback.’ That's the quarterback abyss, brother.”