DJ has an injury guarantee in his contract for 2025. That fact may push the Giants to bench DJ in the second half if the season is out of hand (as other NFL teams dealing with such guarantees have done). Here is the explanation by Dan Duggan
Dan Duggan
@DDuggan21
I'll try to answer this thoroughly and hopefully it eliminates the confusion. There are two guarantees in play, which I think is leading to most of the confusion.
• He has a $30M base salary in 2025. $23M of that salary was guaranteed for injury *only* when he signed. So if he has an injury that prevents him from passing a physical and they cut him, he's due that $23M. There's no deadline attached to that. Whenever they cut him, if he can't pass a physical, he's due the $23M.
• If he's on the roster on the fifth day of the 2025 league year (mid-March), $12M of that salary becomes *fully* guaranteed. So if they cut him for any reason after that date, he's due the $12M.
• So the two guarantees collide if he suffers a serious injury that will prevent him from passing a physical next March and they want to cut him. They could cut him and eat the full $23M or they could hold onto him, eat the $12M and then cut him when he's healthy to save the additional $11M.
They could try to get him to waive the injury guarantee, but I'm not sure why he would. You negotiate that into the contract to protect yourself from this very scenario.
https://x.com/DDuggan21/status/1785674778239525322
Dan Duggan
@DDuggan21
I'll try to answer this thoroughly and hopefully it eliminates the confusion. There are two guarantees in play, which I think is leading to most of the confusion.
• He has a $30M base salary in 2025. $23M of that salary was guaranteed for injury *only* when he signed. So if he has an injury that prevents him from passing a physical and they cut him, he's due that $23M. There's no deadline attached to that. Whenever they cut him, if he can't pass a physical, he's due the $23M.
• If he's on the roster on the fifth day of the 2025 league year (mid-March), $12M of that salary becomes *fully* guaranteed. So if they cut him for any reason after that date, he's due the $12M.
• So the two guarantees collide if he suffers a serious injury that will prevent him from passing a physical next March and they want to cut him. They could cut him and eat the full $23M or they could hold onto him, eat the $12M and then cut him when he's healthy to save the additional $11M.
They could try to get him to waive the injury guarantee, but I'm not sure why he would. You negotiate that into the contract to protect yourself from this very scenario.
https://x.com/DDuggan21/status/1785674778239525322