NFL analyst details major $46,575,000 trouble for Giants following Daniel Jones' extension - "Going to be disappointed"

The New York Giants have gone ahead with making Daniel Jones the franchise quarterback for the foreseeable future. That is not surprising given he led them to the playoffs last season. With Brian Daboll's influence making him a better player, he can now grow and make a push as they look to make it to the Super Bowl in upcoming seasons.

The Giants gave Daniel Jones a $160 million 4-year contract and with that they have to make sure he now has the tools on offense to throw to. In going for that, they signed Darren Waller from the Las Vegas Raiders. The former Pro-Bowler became the highest paid tight end in the market after his 2019 and 2020 seasons both crossed 1,000 yards.

But as NFL analyst Alex Ballentine points out, he has not been the same player since then. Over the last two seasons, Darren Waller has missed 14 games. Last season, he played only nine games and accumulated only 388 yards in receptions. More worryingly, his receiving yards per game was above 70 in both 2019 and 2020. It dropped to 60.5 yards per game in the 11 games he played in 2021 and to just 43.1 yards per game in 2022.

Hence, while they may have got Darren Waller to help Daniel Jones, it is unclear if he will be able to recapture the form?

Why did the Giants choose Darren Waller after extending Daniel Jones' contract?

The New York Giants might have analyzed similarly and decided that he was still a risk worth taking. Because in terms of receiving yards per target, his output had not dropped over the past few seasons. In fact, compared to the 11.2 yards he averaged in 2020, it went up to 12.1 in 2021 and 13.9 in 2022.

What they may have realized is that Waller can still be of great value to Daniel Jones if he is given a higher volume of targets. But to do so, the tight end has to remain fit. It is something they seem to have factored in when they signed him and gave him $46.5 million over four years.

They restructured his contract so that there is no guaranteed money beyond this season, which stands at $8.25 million. Beyond that, he can earn $1.275 million in each of the three remaining seasons of his contract, based on the number of games for which he is active.

Hence, they seemed to have decided that Darren Waller is still elite enough to help Daniel Jones. However, if he is unavailable, they have a contractual safety valve.