It’s feared Daniel Jones is done for the year (and maybe part of next) with a torn ACL, a diagnosis that will be confirmed or modified with an MRI today. Tyrod Taylor is also on IR with a rib injury and can’t return until at least Dec. 11, so unless the Giants make an addition, it’s Tommy DeVito and recent practice squad addition Matt Barkley under center for the time being.
On Monday, Gio at least had to wonder: was that knee injury perhaps the end of Danny Dimes as a Giant, despite that huge contract?
“We talk about all these quarterbacks, and Joe Schoen has been scouting these guys – and it just feels like with that torn ACL, as rough as it was for Daniel Jones and his teammates to watch…this is a tough business, and it we’re going to be real here, this could have ended his career as a New York Giant,” Gio said. “Not his career totally, but you can get out of that contract after 2024 pretty easily, so this was a bad one. I don't expect them to fire Brian Daboll or Joe Schoen, but I do expect them to get their opportunity to bring in their guy for their regime.”
“I would say that depending on where they end up in the draft that will determine that,” Boomer replied. “We’ll get confirmation on Jones, but if it’s an ACL, you have to think six to eight months. So let’s say two weeks from now he undergoes surgery, July is eight months. A good chance he can get back for training camp, wherever that is.”
Jones’ contract is easier to get out of after next year than it is this year, and having Danny Dimes as a bridge to whomever they draft would be an “awkward situation,” and Gio laid out the challenge after Boomer mentioned a possible June 1 cut designation.
“The June 1st designation after 2024 is like nothing, but after this year, it is still significant,” Gio said. “They have to get through the next year of the contract without big time punitive damages as far as the dead cap. If they got out of the contract this year, it would be a dead cap of 48 million and then in 2024 be another 33 million, so you’d have no savings at all.”
“Either way, it's 41 million next year, or it's spread out over the next few years,” Boomer replied. “He’s making his money this year.”
The hit gets worse until you get through next year, when Gio revealed the dead cap would be a $12 million loss otherwise.
“What you need to do is you gotta get through next year, because once you get through next year, then it's only 11 million dead cap and you save $30.5 million,” Gio said. “So, he’s gotta be on the roster. They’re lucky that it's only two years, right? But what do you do?”
Boomer of course then wondered who the Giants were negotiating against last year to put themselves in this situation, and…yeah.
“He's a likable kid and there have been a lot of things that have been out of his control in this, but, you know, that first week against Dallas kind unfortunately shook the trees,” Boomer said.
“Think about this though now: let's say they end up drafting a guy and Daniel Jones has to be on the roster next year and he comes back and he's working back and he's healthy. What is that gonna be like?” Gio asked. “I mean, do they have a choice?”
It’s going to be a long fall and winter, Giants fans, although maybe a trade is a possibility, as Gio broke down those numbers too…and they’re still bad, but navigable.
“If you're moving on from Daniel Jones, try to trade him before June 1st, because you'd only have a dead cap in 2024. You wouldn't have it in 2025 and you would save $13 million,” Gio said.
“There you go, you just figured it out, and maybe you get some assets back for him,” Boomer said. “That’d be the only way to do it.”
Still, an ignominious end to what we all hoped was a new era.
“As much as I've bagged on Daniel Jones for his entirety, sitting here and talking about this, I actually feel bad that this worked out the way that it did,” Gio said. “I know he got his money and that's great, but it's got to be killing him that he was signed to be the Giants’ franchise QB for the next five years and he couldn't even make it through a single season.”
