Daniel Jones’ price tag continues to skyrocket

New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones is about to get PAID!

In the quaint, old days of last month — 30 or so days ago — Joel Corry, a former sports agent and current CBS Sports cap analyst Joel Corry suggested a deal in the three-year, $70 million range. That is roughly $23 million per year.

Since then, Jones has helped rally the Giants to the playoffs and the accepted working theory is now that Jones and the Giants will come to some type of agreement to keep him in New York. And that the cost of that deal for the Giants is likely to be more than anyone could have imagined when the season began.

I reached out to Corry this week about that projection, made the first week in December. He acknowledged those days are long gone.

“Jones has been playing himself into a bigger contract,” Corry said. “North of $30M per year where the playoffs could be the determining factor.”

The expectation from national reports and a variety of agents NFL analysts/insiders I reached out to is that the projected $32.445 million quarterback franchise tag for 2023 is now the starting point for negotiations between Jones and the Giants.

SB Nation NFL columnist Mark Schofield summarized where things appear to be with Jones.

“It’s amazing to think of Jones getting a multi-year deal, given where we were this summer, but that’s where we are at,” Schofield said.

“Working from the franchise tag number is probably a good starting point. Jones would like to avoid the tag, yet keep the numbers close to that $32 million range. The team probably wants to give themselves an out after a year or two, just in case this is a one-off from Jones this year. A contract term in the range of three-four years makes sense for both sides. Something in the neighborhood of three years, $110 million, with the Giants having the deal structured to give themselves an out after two years.”

Former Minnesota Vikings GM Jeff Diamond also put Jones’ price tag in the $35 million range.

“I think he’s had a really good year under [Brian] Daboll and is worth $35 million per year as a top 10-15 quarterback who will get better if they get him a true No. 1 wide receiver,” Diamond told me.

Diamond said he would be comfortable offering Jones a four-year deal at that price, but that the quarterback “would probably rather go three and sign for a lot more after that if he keeps improving.”

Carson Wentz makes $32 million annually. Jared Goff makes $33.5 million per year. It isn’t hard to make a case that Jones is better than either of those quarterbacks.

One agent I spoke to said if he represented Jones he would be looking for a deal that surpassed Wentz’ four-year, $128 million contract. The consensus among those I spoke to, in fact, is that you have to pay Jones a higher annual salary than Wentz currently commands.

Kirk Cousins of the Minnesota Vikings makes $35 million per year. Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys makes $40 million annually. What will Jones’ price tag be if the Giants beat Cousins’ Vikings on Sunday and Prescott’s Cowboys lose their wild-card game to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? What if the Giants make a postseason run?

The price is already higher than we imagined it could be, and it might continue climbing.