NEW YORK — The Giants and Daniel Jones just beat the clock.
Jones and the Giants agreed to a long-term contract extension just prior to Tuesday’s 4 p.m. franchise tag deadline, a source said.
That allowed the Giants to place the franchise tag on running back Saquon Barkley to retain his rights and possibly work out a multi-year contract for him, as well.
Based on those numbers, Jones received the $40 million annual average salary he desired at minimum. And he has a chance to average up to $48.75 million per year — in the neighborhood of Jones’ initial contract ask — if he earns all of those incentives.
The Giants are paying Jones more on this contract than they intended to. The negotiations weren’t easy. Jones changed agencies from CAA to Athletes First, which delayed their start until late February.
This went down to the wire.
But two factors prompted this compromise: first, the organization believes in Jones, from ownership on down; and second, GM Joe Schoen did not want to tie up $32.4 million of his salary cap space on a quarterback franchise tag, even though he had it as a last resort.
Failing to re-sign Jones on Tuesday would have sent Barkley into free agency, too.
Instead, the Giants got Jones done, so they were able to place the $10.1 million non-exclusive franchise tag on Barkley. That gives the team until mid-July to work out a multi-year extension with the running back, or he will play on a one-year, $10.1 million deal.
With Barkley tagged, that $10.1 million now becomes unavailable to the Giants. But they still are operating with around $37 million in space approaching next week’s opening of free agency with other in-house contracts to tackle, led by safety Julian Love.
