Giants owner defends Daniel Jones' massive contract despite QB's poor play

After leading the New York Giants to a surprising playoff berth during the 2022 season, the team signed quarterback Daniel Jones to a four-year, $160 million contract extension that offseason.

Just a little more than a year later, it looks like it might have been a very costly mistake.

Team owner John Mara does not agree with that assessment, and he defended the decision to sign Jones during a meeting with the media on Thursday saying that he is still happy they gave him that deal.

That is a nice vote of confidence for Jones from the team's owner, but it's also worth asking this very important question — what else is Mara supposed to say here? Jones is the team's starting quarterback for better or worse, and no owner is going to come out before the season and talk about how much they regret signing them.

If the Giants would have been able to position themselves for one of the top three quarterbacks in the 2024 draft class (Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye), there is a very good chance they would have taken them, which is the only thing that matters in the discussion of what they truly think about Jones. But after finishing outside of the top-three in the draft and being unable to move up, they ended up taking wide receiver Malik Nabers to give Jones a potential star in the passing game.

Jones was limited to just six games during the 2023 season before suffering a season-ending injury. Prior to the injury, he had taken a massive step backward in his production, throwing just two touchdowns to six interceptions while the Giants won only one of their first six games.

Even with Jones' breakout 2022 season in which he helped the team make the playoffs and win a postseason game, he never really played at an elite level. He was more of a caretaker for the offense whose primary job was to protect the football and help complement the team's running game.

Jones does have some better talent around him this season, and if he does not take a big step forward, it will be really difficult for the Giants to not look for a better option. At that point Mara will have no choice but to have some regret over the contract.