“It’s selfish”: Daniel Jones gets skewered by Craig Carton for accepting $82,000,000 guaranteed with Saquon Barkley settling for $11,000,000
Daniel Jones signed a lucrative four-year contract extension with the New York Giants earlier this year. The deal is worth a total of $160 million and includes $82 million in guaranteed money.
Many fans and analysts have questioned the move as his running back Saquon Barkley failed to negotiate his own long-term extension.
Host Craig Carton spoke about Jones' contract on "The Carton Show" on Monday morning. He went as far as to call the New York Giants quarterback selfish:
"The next two years Daniel Jones is getting $82M guaranteed. If he was a leader and cared about his RB, he would simply say: 'I'll take 80.' It's selfish."
Craig Carton clearly feels that Daniel Jones could have left some money on the table to ensure he could retain his running back.
The contract does have an optional opt-out for the Giants after two years. Therefore, if the quarterback isn't living up to his true potential the team can cut ties early.
The Giants will pay their quarterback $47.1 million for the 2024 NFL season, $41.6 million for the 2025 NFL season and a whopping $58.6 million in 2026.
Saquon Barkley is playing on a one-year contract for the 2023 NFL season that will pay him $11 million. Whether or not the New York Giants can work out an extension with him will be a big storyline.
Daniel Jones' newly restructured Giants contract
It was reported on Monday that Daniel Jones' contract had been restructured. The Giants converted $8.42 million of his 2023 base salary into a signing bonus.
This means that he will receive that money instantly and it won't be reflected in the salary cap. Instead of Jones' contract having a $21 million hit to the cap, it will now have about $15 million instead.
That allowed the New York Giants to free up $6.315 million in salary cap space. Before restructuring the contract, the team had just $4.79 million in salary cap space available for the 2023 season. Only the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Las Vegas Raiders have less.
Whether the Giants have a plan for the salary cap space or not remains to be seen at this moment in time.