On Thursday, the New York Giants officially announced they would not exercise the fifth-year option on quarterback Daniel Jones’ contract.
The Giants have not exercised Daniel Jones 5th year option, per source
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) April 28, 2022
While it might sound striking that a team wouldn’t commit to another year for their starting quarterback, the move has been expected for quite some time. With that decision, it means that Jones will essentially be playing for his next contract in the 2022 NFL season, something that probably isn’t much of a surprise to him given his erratic play so far with the franchise.
“I’m certainly the one responsible for how I play and I take that very seriously. I haven’t played well enough, we haven’t won enough games to this point.” Jones said in February.
His comments came on the heels of Giants CEO John Mara recently saying that the team still has faith in Jones and that the team “did everything to screw the kid up” under previous coaching regimes.
Jones had an unfortunate end to his 2021 season with a neck injury that ended his year early. After he went down, the Giants were a complete disaster, losing every game for the rest of the season. Head coach Joe Judge was fired and the franchise brought in general manager Joe Schoen and new head coach Brian Daboll.
We’ll have to see if the Giants send another message by drafting a quarterback during the 2022 NFL Draft. But either way, it’s going to be a make-or-break season for Jones and there were certainly some strong reactions to Thursday’s news around the football world.
As expected, the @Giants are not picking up QB Daniel Jones' fifth year option, according to a source with knowledge of the team's plans. But if he plays well, obviously, chance to cash in with the franchise tag.
— Judy Battista (@judybattista) April 28, 2022
Daniel Jones has to prove to the Giants and everyone that he can thrive as a franchise QB. Until he does, he wasn't getting guaranteed $22.39M.
If he does light it up this year (they hope he does) they happily will use the franchise tag at approximately $30M if necessary.
— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) April 28, 2022
Huge first move from Joe Schoen & Co. Even given his struggles, this to me is another example of the new fifth-year option rule preventing an exercise, whereas under the old rules they probably would have https://t.co/QqEOt6AJMm
— Brad Spielberger, Esq. (@SpielbergerBrad) April 28, 2022
Get that money, Dimes! https://t.co/nZwOjyjnn6
— Patrick Claybon (@PatrickClaybon) April 28, 2022
Never made any sense to exercise the 5th year option with as unsure as they were about it.
Best case, he plays well & you tag him for a year or two to see if the play is “real”. More realistically, he’ll be Trubisky’d & will be on the market next year as NYG looks for a new QB. https://t.co/8qY40ojLi8
— Aaron Leming (@AaronLemingNFL) April 28, 2022
