What Daniel Jones’ long-term extension means for the Giants’ attempts to take over the NFC East

There was never a doubt Daniel Jones would be the Giants’ starting quarterback in 2023.

General manager Joe Schoen made that clear after the 2022 season, stating Jones was in the plans — whether he was secured with a long-term deal or the one-year franchise tag.  Either way, Jones was not going anywhere.

The pressure was on for Jones and the Giants to make a deal on a new contract before the Tuesday 4 p.m. deadline to designate Jones with the franchise tag — neither side wanted Jones to play on the tag for $32.4 million.

It went down to the wire before the two sides came to an agreement on a four-year contract worth $160 million, with $82 million in guaranteed money over the first two years. Jones has a chance to earn an additional $35 million if he hits certain incentives.

This makes Jones the ninth NFL quarterback to average at least $40 million per year.

There is certainly a lively debate to engage in over where Jones ranks as an NFL starting quarterback: Is he just outside of the top 10? Is he more in the 15-20 range?

Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll liked what they saw in their first year with Jones, on and off the field, and came to the conclusion that they can win, and win big, with Jones, as long as they surround him with talent on both sides of the ball.

But for any team to rise in its conference, it first must conquer its own division. The Giants did not come close to accomplishing this in 2022.

They were swept in the regular season by the Eagles and the Cowboys, and beat the Commanders after playing to a tie the first time around. Then the Eagles thrashed them in a divisional playoff game, leaving the Giants a combined 1-5-1 against their NFC East rivals.

It is fair to consider: Does a ranking of the quarterbacks in the division map to the pecking order among the teams?

In the NFC East, there is a clear No. 1 in the uber-impressive Jalen Hurts of the Eagles.

There is also a clear No. 4 at this point, considering the muddled Commanders quarterback situation.

Dak Prescott of the Cowboys deserves to be ranked ahead of Jones, based on their bodies of work the past few years, but is Prescott in decline while Jones is ascending?

Let’s take a closer look at the NFC East quarterbacks:

Eagles

The Eagles’ decision to use their 2020 second-round pick on Hurts, a quarterback out of Oklahoma and Alabama, was head-scratching. They had Carson Wentz, a four-year starter at quarterback who was under contract for five more years.

Why would general manager Howie Roseman, a pretty smart guy, waste such a premium pick on another quarterback?

Well, we know how that turned out. Wentz fell into disfavor and was cast aside.

Hurts showed promise in 2021, and in 2022 finished second in Most Valuable Player voting and led the Eagles to Super Bowl LVII, where they nearly beat Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.

Recently, the Eagles made public the 2020 pre-draft interview they conducted with Hurts.

“I’m a difference-maker, a dog,” Hurts said when asked why the Eagles should draft him. “I’ve been able to kind of cement myself into two prestigious programs. I think people have found a way in both places to follow me. And I’m not going into these places saying, ‘Hey, come on. You got to follow me.’ That’s earned. That’s not given. People lead because their peers let them. I don’t know, for some odd reason, people follow me everywhere I’ve been.

“I can make every throw, make every play. I don’t put a ceiling on how good I can be. I can’t say the sky’s the limit because I think I have that much. I’m confident in that.’’

Pretty good stuff, huh?

The Giants, Cowboys and Commanders are going to have to deal with Hurts — who turns 25 in August — for years to come.

He is entering the final year of his rookie contract, set to count only $4.9 million against the salary cap. The Eagles want to secure him with a long-term deal, and given his skyrocketing trajectory, Hurts is going to command a deal closer to $50 million per year than $40 million per year.

Roseman last week said he wants to come up with a package that is a “win-win’’ for Hurts and the Eagles.

“That doesn’t mean it’s not going to be a tremendous contract for him,’’ Roseman said, “because he deserves that, too.”

Hurts compiled a passer rating of 101.5 in 2022, and he also ran for 760 yards and 13 touchdowns. His record as a starter is 23-11 after he went 14-1 last season.

Cowboys

Dak Prescott shook off a first quarter pick-six on Christmas Eve to throw for 347 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Cowboys over the Eagles (who played without Hurts).

Afterward, Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said of Prescott: “Adversity is something he eats for lunch.”

There was plenty of adversity for Prescott to deal with in 2022.

He came out of the season opener because of a hand injury and missed the next five games. In the final 11 games, Prescott was not highly efficient.

He finished tied for the NFL high in interceptions with 15, becoming the first quarterback to lead the league in interceptions despite missing five games. The only other player who threw as many picks in 2022 was Davis Mills of the Texans, and he played three more games than Prescott did.

The Cowboys went 8-4 in the games Prescott started to finish 12-5 for the second consecutive season, though they once again suffered an early playoff exit.

Some of the bloom is off the rose with Prescott. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones recently complained about how much money his quarterback makes without actually saying it, noting the team will be unable to add talent around Prescott because he takes up too much of the salary cap.

Prescott will count $49.1 million on the cap in 2023.

Giants

From the outside looking in, it is fair to wonder what all the fuss is about with a quarterback coming off a season in which he threw 15 touchdown passes in 16 starts.

Jones did establish career highs in completion percentage (67.2), passing yards (3,205) and had the lowest interception percentage (1.1) of any starter. He also ran for a career-high 708 yards and seven touchdowns, and helped the Giants soar beyond expectations to win nine games, make the playoffs and win a playoff game.

Very good. Very solid. Hardly special.

The Giants believe Jones’ best days are in front of him, convinced pairing him with Daboll was a boon last season and will continue to lead to bigger and better things.

Jones’ career record as a starter of 12-25 before 2022 is not of great concern to Daboll and Schoen because all that losing did not come on their watch.

Jones turns 26 on May 27. He is so young that he might not yet have entered his prime.

The continuity with the coaching staff and the offense — advantages he did not have in his first three seasons with the Giants — should lead to further mastery of the system he is asked to run.

There is far from a consensus on Daniel Jones. The Giants like him better than most of the league does.

Now that he is signed to big bucks, the pressure rises even higher.

Commanders

This could be a mess. Wentz was released. Taylor Heinicke is set to become a free agent.

Sam Howell, a 2022 fifth-round draft pick out of North Carolina, is atop the depth chart — for the moment.

There is interest in re-signing the 29-year-old Heinicke, who general manager Martin Mayhew said “was instrumental, I thought, in salvaging our season.”

Howell started the regular-season finale, and passed for 169 yards and a touchdown as the Commanders defeated the Cowboys.

“We will go into OTAs, minicamp and training camp with Sam Howell more than likely QB1, and we’ll see what happens,” coach Ron Rivera said recently. “It’s his opportunity. This is a challenge to him. If he comes out and does the things that he’s capable of — we believe he’s capable of — he can most certainly be our guy. But we’ll find out.”

None of this precludes the Commanders from signing a veteran quarterback in free agency or selecting one high in the NFL Draft.

On the job

The Giants coaching staff last week moved in and around the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, hustling from their hotel to late-night or early-morning interviews with players and to nearby Lucas Oil Stadium for player drills.

Sure, there were group dinners and the sort of camaraderie building that takes place at events such as this. It seemed so useful for the coaches to be there that one has to wonder why 10 teams decided not to send their coaching staffs to Indy.

The Giants coaches did get a few weeks of down time after the grind of the regular season, so this was an early opportunity for Daboll’s staff to start digging into the draft prospects.

Coaches spending 15-20 minutes with players at the positions they lead is incredibly valuable in getting a feel for the individual, sizing up the player from a physical standpoint and learning about his mental acuity with some football work on the whiteboard.

Why would an NFL team not want its coaching staff involved in this?

Yes, there are Pro Days to attend across the country, and the coaches throughout the league will hit the campuses before too long.

The combine is an entirely different vibe with players taken out of their comfort zone for a few days of intense scrutiny.

It was dinner time one day last week when defensive coordinator Wink Mardindale and defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson were seen quickly walking through the many corridors and skyways to get to their interviews.

Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka watched and spoke with many players during his time in Indy. Quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney was able to get quality time with the top players at the position — this could be extremely useful intel, maybe not for this draft, but for the future, when some of these quarterbacks are on the open market.

Drew Wilkins, the outside linebackers coach, was excited to be chosen to run the drills on the field for the prospects at that position. Does that close proximity give Wilkins a slight advantage when evaluating the players? It certainly does not hurt.

Daboll takes this stuff seriously. He enjoys the process of finding out as much as he can about the players the Giants will grade and slot on their draft board.

None of this ensures the Giants will get it right with their picks in late April. This diligence, though, has to help.

Asked and answered

Here are two questions that have come up recently that we will attempt to answer as accurately as possible:

What sense did you get from the Giants decision-makers at the combine about what they are looking for in the upcoming draft?

It was actually sort of amusing when Schoen talked about the “obsession’’ he has noticed with the Giants’ need to take a wide receiver in the first round. This is understandable, given how wretched the position has been after injuries to Sterling Shepard and rookie Wan’Dale Robinson, the lack of production from Kenny Golladay and the lack of health and professional demeanor from Kadarius Toney.

The sense is, while the Giants are cognizant of the need to add talent at the receiver position, Schoen does not view this as unquestionably the primary roster need.

He was not happy with the inside linebackers in 2022. He is not comfortable with the lack of depth on the interior of the defensive line. He does not think the team has a true No. 1 cornerback — Adoree’ Jackson is more of a solid No. 2 on a good defense.

Schoen does not see his team as one player away from anything, and this is why there is going to be a wide range of possible targets for the Giants in this draft.

What shape are the Giants in with their salary-cap space this year?

Fairly strong. The most recent data has the Giants with $46 million in cap space, good for the third-most in the league behind the Bears and Falcons. Cap space and cap-space rankings are fluid, though.

The Giants will release receiver Kenny Golladay when the league year starts March 15, pushing their available cap space over $50 million. Jones will take about $18.5 million in cap space, and Saquon Barkley’s franchise tag costs $10.1 million.

A good chunk of the Giants’ leftover cap space is going to be used to bring back their own players, so it is not as if Schoen will have unlimited resources once free agency begins.

But at this time last year, Schoen began his tenure as general manager tasked with slashing money to get under the cap. He and the Giants will be able to spend more freely this year.