Daniel Jones’ injury guarantee adds wrinkle into possible in-season benching

It was no secret that the New York Giants dipped their toe in the water of possibly replacing Daniel Jones this offseason. Thanks to the organization being the subject of the offseason addition of HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” we saw general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll discuss at length the possibility of trading up at the NFL Draft for either Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye. Those pursuits met a dead end, and the club ended up sticking with Jones. But how long will that last? 

As pointed out by ESPN, Jones has a $23 million injury guarantee for 2025. While it’s early in the season, that wrinkle to his current contract could be a key factor for the team to decide to bench the quarterback at some point this season, particularly if he continues to play poorly. 

Over the past few years, teams who have fallen out of the playoff race have elected to sideline their signal-caller to avoid a potential injury, thus triggering the guarantee. 

Just last season, the Denver Broncos benched Russell Wilson in the final weeks of the year to avoid triggering his $37 million guarantee for this season. The Las Vegas Raiders, in part, benched Jimmy Garoppolo last season to avoid him suffering an injury and guaranteeing an additional $11.25 million to his contract. In 2022, the Raiders also benched then-starter Derek Carr to avoid a $32.9 million guaranteed salary for 2023 (and $7.5 million in 2024) if he suffered an injury. 

All that is to say that this has become somewhat common in the league and could very well be the fate of Jones if he and the Giants do not turn things around at some point soon. 

Jones signed a four-year, $160 million extension with the Giants in March of 2023. The club does have a potential out after this season, where they could clear roughly $19.4 million off of its salary cap by releasing Jones. 

In the opening 28-6 loss to Minnesota, Jones completed 22 of his 42 passes for 186 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions. He was also sacked five times.