4 quarterbacks who deserve to make way more money than Daniel Jones
By Kristen Wong
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones got his bag on Tuesday, paving the way for these four players to potentially earn much, much more.
Lots of people don’t like Daniel Jones’ new contract extension with the New York Giants for good reason. The Giants and Jones negotiated down to the wire and agreed to a four-year, $160 million contract right before the franchise tag deadline, allowing New York to place the tag on running back Saquon Barkley instead.
In the deal, Jones will receive $82 million in guaranteed money and has his salary spread out across all four years: in 2023, his base salary is $9.5 million. In 2026 his base salary goes up to $46.5 million.
The Giants will have to absorb Jones’ monster cap hit in 2024 and onward, but the franchise can get out of the contract after the 2024 season if they want to, making it more of a three-year deal.
At face value, Jones earning an average of $40 million per year just doesn’t sit right. The fourth-year quarterback produced only one impressive season in his NFL career and has yet to prove he can duplicate his success.
His salary is tied for seventh-highest in the league along with Dak Prescott and Matthew Stafford, upping the pressure on him to perform in 2023. Jones, who has not earned his stripes yet in the NFL, still has work to do.
These four quarterbacks, however, stand to profit from their already successful careers and should make way more than Daniel Jones when the time comes for them to ink another deal.
Better than Daniel Jones QB #4: Justin Herbert
Los Angeles Chargers’ Justin Herbert is officially eligible for an extension after completing his third NFL season, and his extension numbers will be gigantic.
The Chargers can retain Herbert by using the fifth-year team option in 2024 if the two sides don’t reach a contract extension; if the two still don’t have a deal in place, Los Angeles can place the franchise tag on him for as many as three consecutive seasons.
Suffice to say, that route is undesirable from a team perspective since the franchise tag amount increases every time it is used again on a player.
The best-case scenario would be for Herbert and the Chargers to get a long-term deal as soon as possible and try to find a happy medium among the swamp of overpriced quarterback contracts in today’s NFL.
If Herbert’s looking for Deshaun Watson money, he probably won’t get it. But he stands to make much more than Daniel Jones, and given his franchise potential, he can easily make an average salary of anywhere from $48-$55 million.
The fully guaranteed number is a different beast altogether and entirely depends on Herbert’s desires. Barring a sudden decline in form from the 2020 first-rounder, Herbert’s last three years have convinced the Chargers franchise he’s their quarterback of the future. When it comes time to pay him like one, Los Angeles absolutely will.