What if Daniel Jones and the Giants never came to terms?

[Ed Vette]

One common statement made by many fans was that it was a mistake to pay Daniel Jones. Some at the time and many more after his poor performances this season and the injuries, one of which ended his season.

If they chose to move on...

Would they have traded up for Anthony Richardson? I don't think there was any way they could have gotten Young or Stroud. Would they have picked Levis or would they have signed an FA or started Tyrod Taylor and then put off drafting a QB.

How would any of those decisions have changed the course of this season and the future of the team?

All hypothetical and the answers subjective but did Schoen make the best decision at the time?

[DaveBrown74]

Given all the circumstances, it was a really tough situation to be in at the time. Like unbelievably so. My preference would have been to tag Jones and either trade Barkley (in 2022) before the deadline or just let him walk completely. The problem with that course of action, which I 100% admit, is that that's virtually impossible to do and to sell to fans when you just won your first playoff game in a decade. How do you sell that? How would Mara have felt about that? You're taking a team that just won a playoff game and had somewhat of a feel-good season for the first time in forever, and you're going to cap yourself by letting your star RB go and tagging Jones (ie taking the full cap hit)? It was the right move, and I bet Schoen knew that at the time, but it was next to impossible to actually do. So he did the second best thing he could have done, which was tag Barkley and give Jones as flexible a contract as he possibly could. And he did. We weren't drafting high enough to get a palatable QB, and trading away a ton of capital for a team with such poor depth for a wildcard like AR-15 would have been a tough sell. The free agent options (Carr, Mayfield, Jimmy G) were not palatable and seemed no better than Jones, which they aren't really. Not materially anyway. It was just a tough situation.

[LennG]

 I think, to a man, we all agree the Giants overpaid for Jones. Jones and his agent played hardball and Schoen (be it from Mara) crumbled and paid the piper. Myself, I would have drawn a line in the sane, tell Jones and his agent this is what we are paying and if you don't want to play here, so be it. Does anyone really believe, that if Jones had walked another team would have paid him what the Giants did? I seriously doubt it.

At the time, I don't think Taylor was the option. We had just won a playoff game and why would we even think of starting a new season, a hopeful season, with a perennial backup? Was there even a Plan B if Jones had walked or were we always going to pay him?
Again, those of us who were never enamored with Jones would have taken that money we were going to pay him and spent it on the best possible QB out there. We might have had a shot at Jimmy G or whoever else was available.

Personally, Jones played hardball and we caved. I really do not believe he would have walked as he knew his best value was right here in NY, and even if he held out, he would have signed eventually to a Giant-favored contract.

[Ed Vette]

I think, to a man, we all agree the Giants overpaid for Jones. Jones and his agent played hardball and Schoen (be it from Mara) crumbled and paid the piper. Myself, I would have drawn a line in the sane, tell Jones and his agent this is what we are paying and if you don't want to play here, so be it. Does anyone really believe, that if Jones had walked another team would have paid him what the Giants did? I seriously doubt it.

At the time, I don't think Taylor was the option. We had just won a playoff game and why would we even think of starting a new season, a hopeful season, with a perennial backup? Was there even a Plan B if Jones had walked or were we always going to pay him?
Again, those of us who were never enamored with Jones would have taken that money we were going to pay him and spent it on the best possible QB out there. We might have had a shot at Jimmy G or whoever else was available.

Personally, Jones played hardball and we caved. I really do not believe he would have walked as he knew his best value was right here in NY, and even if he held out, he would have signed eventually to a Giant-favored contract.

Good point that the fans would have understood an offer less than what they gave him. Where would you have drawn the line? A one year or multi year and how much?

[coggs]

If they didnt sign Jones and the season unfolded like it has, there would be a HUGE uproar about how Schoen needs to go.  He would not have ANY support among the fanbase,

[Ed Vette]

If they didnt sign Jones and the season unfolded like it has, there would be a HUGE uproar about how Schoen needs to go.  He would not have ANY support among the fanbase,

For sure.

[H-Town G-Fan]

The Giants are victims of last year's success and Daniel Jones the beneficiary. I have hardly been a Jones supporter (and called many worse things since his drafting), but even I was somewhat onboard with the contract simply because I didn't perceive a reasonable alternative and it was at worst a 2-year deal. Tagging Jones meant they lose Barkley, who is the actual focus of the offense. Even in the best estimate of 2023, Jones was unlikely to thrive without a strong effort from Barkley (just see the first half of the 2022 campaign against this season where Barkley was injured). So I think the path forward they went with--with the optics at play, Jones's fifth year option being declined, and the playoff success--an overpay of Jones was not unreasonable. It didn't work out. That happens. The Giants fortunately found out he's not the guy in spectacular fashion, which is going to afford them the opportunity to draft his replacement.

[DaveBrown74]

If they didnt sign Jones and the season unfolded like it has, there would be a HUGE uproar about how Schoen needs to go.  He would not have ANY support among the fanbase,

I think that's probably correct, although that would depend somewhat on what was going on with Jones this year with whatever other team. If he was playing similarly to the way he has played here overall, and his new team was losing, or he was just a backup somewhere that wasn't seeing the field, I'm not so sure fans would be unanimously aligned against Schoen.

[BluesCruz]

One common statement made by many fans was that it was a mistake to pay Daniel Jones. Some at the time and many more after his poor performances this season and the injuries, one of which ended his season.

If they chose to move on...

Would they have traded up for Anthony Richardson? I don't think there was any way they could have gotten Young or Stroud. Would they have picked Levis or would they have signed an FA or started Tyrod Taylor and then put off drafting a QB.

How would any of those decisions have changed the course of this season and the future of the team?

All hypothetical and the answers subjective but did Schoen make the best decision at the time? 

This pre-suposess it was Schoen's decision.  It might have been Mara's decision.

I think Schoen and Daboll were well aware of Jones inner struggles with progressions and slow decision making.  Which would explain why Jones often throws the ball behind the receiver.
He's late to release the ball

[BluesCruz]

one way or another Jones walks away with over 80 million dollars, good for him, he is a good guy and always tries his best....it was a tough decision

no one is to blame.  In the end I think the tough early schedule was the gating factor.

Do you bring him back?  Another big Jones decision coming up

[Bob In PA]

The Giants are victims of last year's success and Daniel Jones the beneficiary. I have hardly been a Jones supporter (and called many worse things since his drafting), but even I was somewhat onboard with the contract simply because I didn't perceive a reasonable alternative and it was at worst a 2-year deal. Tagging Jones meant they lose Barkley, who is the actual focus of the offense. Even in the best estimate of 2023, Jones was unlikely to thrive without a strong effort from Barkley (just see the first half of the 2022 campaign against this season where Barkley was injured). So I think the path forward they went with--with the optics at play, Jones's fifth year option being declined, and the playoff success--an overpay of Jones was not unreasonable. It didn't work out. That happens. The Giants fortunately found out he's not the guy in spectacular fashion, which is going to afford them the opportunity to draft his replacement.

H-T: I think Giants were thinking along your lines and just got the worse of two possible outcomes, apparently. 

I say "apparently" because it ain't over til it's over. You never know. Questions...

Is the OL gelling, or playing better because they're rallying behind DeVito?

Or is it because recent competition stinks by comparison to the five teams they faced to open the season?

Or are DeVito's occasional excellent plays giving them hope and inspiration?

Bob

[MightyGiants]

Jones would have been tagged if they failed to reach a deal.  I am pretty sure Schoen said that Jones would be back either with a new contract or under the tag.

[T200]

Schoen was hamstrung with Jones from the day he agreed to be the GM.

- The previous 'guy' brought in Jones. Schoen had no ties or obligation to pick up the 5th-year option. He didn't, and for good reason. They had already seen the limited success Jones had up to that point, lack of supporting cast noted.

- Daboll and Kafka employed a low-risk passing game and leaned heavily on Saquon to see how Jones would fare. It wasn't spectacular but it showed that, at a minimum, Jones was a capable game manager. After a great showing in his first playoff game, Jones backed the Giants into a corner.

- Jones gets paid and starts the season playing worse than he ever has. And then the injuries.

Until Jones and Barkley are off this team, the Giants will continue to suffer the decisions made by Mara/Gettleman. Schoen needs to cut ties as soon as possible. And it sucks because Barkley and Jones are genuinely good guys who got drafted by the wrong guy.

[Ed Vette]

Schoen was hamstrung with Jones from the day he agreed to be the GM.

- The previous 'guy' brought in Jones. Schoen had no ties or obligation to pick up the 5th-year option. He didn't, and for good reason. They had already seen the limited success Jones had up to that point, lack of supporting cast noted.

- Daboll and Kafka employed a low-risk passing game and leaned heavily on Saquon to see how Jones would fare. It wasn't spectacular but it showed that, at a minimum, Jones was a capable game manager. After a great showing in his first playoff game, Jones backed the Giants into a corner.

- Jones gets paid and starts the season playing worse than he ever has. And then the injuries.

Until Jones and Barkley are off this team, the Giants will continue to suffer the decisions made by Mara/Gettleman. Schoen needs to cut ties as soon as possible. And it sucks because Barkley and Jones are genuinely good guys who got drafted by the wrong guy.

Barkley might already have that Gold Jacket if he was drafted by the Eagles.

[T200]

Barkley might already have that Gold Jacket if he was drafted by the Eagles.

OMG! Can you imagine him behind that line???     

He would easily have a couple of rushing titles.