Here's why Giants co-owner John Mara is 'still happy' team gave Daniel Jones four-year, $160 million contract

New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones took a significant step backward last season, regressing hard after having shown improvement in 2022. And yet, despite that poor performance and the ACL tear that ended his season, Giants co-owner John Mara does not regret having given Jones a four-year, $160 million contract with $81 million in guarantees last offseason.

"Listen, I'm still happy we gave him that contract because I felt he played really well for us in '22," Mara said, via ESPN . "Last year he got hurt and, let's be honest, when he was playing, we weren't blocking anybody. So let's give him a chance with a better offensive line and some weapons around him and see what he can do."

Mara is certainly correct that the Giants weren't blocking anybody last year. They finished dead last in Pro Football Focus' pass-blocking grades and just 24th in ESPN's pass-block win rate. But Jones also struggled badly even when throwing from a clean pocket: According to PFF, he averaged just 6.6 yards per attempt (35th out of 41 qualifiers) and threw two touchdowns and three interceptions when he was not under pressure.

Considering he was pressured at the third-highest rate in 2022 and still averaged 7.1 yards per attempt (not great, but better than last year) with 11 scores and four picks on clean-pocket throws, it's hard to blame his regression solely on the line. It's even harder to do so when the 2023 performance is more in line with his previous three years, than was the 2022 performance.

Still, even if he was happy with Jones, Mara was prepared to let general manager Joe Schoen trade up for a quarterback in the draft, if that's what he decided was best for the team.

"I was nervous about giving up too much to go get a quarterback," Mara said. "I was prepared to let [Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll] do that if that is what they wanted to do. We made a decision to stay with Daniel and add a weapon for him, and I think that is going to work out for us."

With their efforts to move up rebuffed, the Giants stayed put and picked LSU star Malik Nabers to give themselves a true No. 1 receiver. Perhaps that changes things enough for Jones to rebound, but he would still need to show significant improvement beyond where he was in 2022 to be worth the contract he was given. And if he doesn't reach that level, it's likely that the Giants will be in the quarterback market again next offseason.