For New York Giants fans, Daniel Jones will always be a sore spot. Once a highly touted quarterback out of Duke, the former first-round pick was tasked with replacing Eli Manning in New York, a quarterback who won the city two Super Bowl championships. Unfortunately, Jones struggled with the Giants through most of his tenure with the team. However, he still landed a ridiculous contract that remains controversial to this day.
Throughout Daniel Jones’ first few years with the organization, the quarterback’s performance with the Giants was nothing to write home about. In fact, it was bad enough for the Giants to decline the option on Jones’ contract prior to the 2022 season, which meant he’d be a free agent after that year. But this is when it started to look like Jones had turned the corner. The numbers were far from generational — Jones threw for 15 touchdowns to 5 interceptions and just north of 3,200 yards in 2022. It was certainly an improvement over the performances in the previous few seasons, but far from what you would expect from a player picked 6th overall once upon a time.
But the Giants made the playoffs that year, posting a 9-6-1 record. Not only that, but Jones balled out in the team’s 31-24 Wild Card playoff win against the Minnesota Vikings, becoming the first player in NFL history to accumulate 300+ passing yards, two+ touchdown passes, and 70+ rushing yards in a playoff game. And despite their loss to the Eagles the following week, the Giants wrote Jones a blank check the following offseason.
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Daniel Jones’ Agent Pulled Out All The Stops For His Big Payday
Following showing signs of improvement, the Giants gave Jones a whopping 4-year, $160 million contract, $82 million of which was guaranteed in the first two years, plus $35 million in additional incentives. And while it sure looked like Jones had turned the corner when it came to his on-field performance, the contract was largely panned by Giants fans and pundits. It was only the ninth time a quarterback’s contract broke the $40 million per year threshold, ever.
So, how did this contract even happen? Was Jones a promising prospect? Sure, but probable improvement is seldom worth it after several bad seasons and one decent one (with a really great playoff game). The answer: Good negotiating from his agent.
In an appearance on NFL Spotlight with Ari Meirov, Jones’ agent, A.J. Stevens, discussed how he coaxed the Giants into giving Jones his massive deal ahead of the 2023 NFL season.
Stevens, who works for the Athletes First agency, wasn’t expecting to be busy one weekend when his CEO called him to inform him that he had a plan for getting Jones a big contract. The plan of attack was something like this: Stevens would put together a book-size document that would explain where Daniel Jones fit into the QB market, and how he could be useful to the Giants in the future.
“So, I spent the next 72 hours building out a 42-page ‘manifesto’… that gave a history of the quarterback position since 2010-ish, and eventually a proposal,” Stevens told Meirov. The actual proposal in question didn’t appear until Page 41 of the manifesto, a proposal which even Stevens admits was pretty preposterous. “It was absurd at the time. Looking back, it’s still absurd. But it inevitably got us to the point where we did a buzzer-beater deal where there were seconds left before the deadline when got his contract done.”
I don’t know what exactly was in this 42-page propaganda machine, but it got the job done. And trust me, the Giants got straight fleeced.
After signing the preposterous contract, Jones struggled with the Giants in 2023, and that was just when he was on the field. To add insult to injury, Jones was sidelined twice with an injury that year. The first was a neck injury against the Miami Dolphins in Week 5 that kept him out for three games. The next was a season-ending ACL tear in Week 9 against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Upon returning in 2024, Jones did little to improve his performance and live up to the massive deal he had signed. The Giants eventually gave up on Jones, benching him in favor of backup Tommy DeVito. After this, he was granted a release. He hasn’t played a game since, though he is expected to compete with Anthony Richardson for the starting spot on the Indianapolis Colts this year.
Published: Jun 30, 2025 01:30 pm