EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — With 30 minutes before the NFL’s deadline to franchise a player, General Manager Joe Schoen wasn’t sure whether the New York Giants would be able to finalize a long-term deal for quarterback Daniel Jones.
Nine straight days of contract talks had come down to 1,800 seconds. There were no timeouts.
Schoen said Wednesday that multiple emails had been set up to let the league know by 4 p.m. whether the Giants were going to put the franchise tag on Jones or running back Saquon Barkley.
As the minutes fell away, the Giants conceded some and the Athletes First agents representing Jones gave a little, too. The 25-year-old player approved the new middle ground and a four-year, $160 million contract was struck — with six minutes to spare, Jones and Schoen said Wednesday.
It was enough time for the Giants to put their franchise tag on Barkley and allow the team to keep its two best offensive players after first winning season since 2016.
“I just wanted to know we had our quarterback here and it wasn’t a franchise-tag type of deal,” Schoen said of his goal. “That was to me, that was a worst-case scenario, putting the franchise tag on him. But I also knew I had that as a tool, so the deal had to make sense for the franchise both short-term and long-term.”
While the deal has an annual average worth of $40 million, it’s structured to create cap space this season.
Jones, who had a career season in 2022 in leading New York to its first playoff berth since ’16, will have a base salary of $9.5 million in 2023. His $36 million signing bonus will be divided over the contract’s four years so the cap hit will be about $19 million this season after roster bonuses are added in.
Had Jones been franchised, the cap hit would have been $32 million, and there was a chance he would have been a free agent again.
Schoen now plans to work on a long-term deals with Barkley before the summer deadline and defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, who is under contract through next season. He also said the team probably will take the $14.8 million cap hit in dead money resulting from the planned release of receiver Kenny Golladay.
The team planned to talk to its remaining free agents over the next week to see if any new contracts can be reached before free agency starts next week.
Schoen said the staff also will get together to talk about potential free agents, needs and the draft. He said the Giants will have financial flexibility this year to continue building a team that went 9-7-1 in its first season under Brian Daboll.
“We really start building this thing knowing that we have Daniel in place,” Schoen said, adding the organization believes the No. 6 overall pick in the 2019 can lead them to a Super Bowl with the right supporting cast.
JAGUARS: The Jacksonville Jaguars cut high-priced cornerback Shaquill Griffin, a move that was months in the making and will save the team $13.1 million against the salary cap.
Griffin tweaked his back early last season and was essentially benched before going on injured reserve. He was scheduled to count $17.1 million against the cap next season, a number too big for a team doing everything it can to create enough space to sign a few key guys in free agency and afford its draft class.
The 27-year-old Griffin should have plenty of options to land elsewhere. He has started 72 games over six seasons with Seattle and Jacksonville. He had six interceptions for the Seahawks before signing a three-year, $40 million contract with the Jaguars in free agency in 2021.
CARDINALS: The Arizona Cardinals released receiver Robbie Anderson, ending a short and unproductive stint.
The Cardinals traded for Anderson on Oct. 17, sending a pair of future late-round draft picks back to the Carolina Panthers. The hope was the 6-foot-3, 190-pounder, who recently changed his legal name to Chosen Robbie Anderson, would help the offense after an injury to Marquise Brown.
But the 29-year-old Anderson was slow to acclimate to the Cardinals’ offense and had just seven catches for 76 yards over 10 games.
The move will save new GM Monti Ossenfort and the Cardinals around $12 million in salary cap space. Anderson was acquired during previous GM Steve Keim’s tenure.
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