Presser Points: Daniel Jones, Joe Schoen discuss QB's new contract

General Manager Joe Schoen

Q: Now that everything is done, could you bring us inside the negotiations a little bit? Obviously, it went up to the deadline. It was a lot of talks in the last week or so. What were the sticking points, and what brought it over the goal line?

A: It started roughly, I think it was three weeks ago today, when Athletes First, their group flew out here. We had a dinner initially. They were actually in the building Thursday, Friday, for a couple of days. We started our initial conversations then. And then we kind of went remote after that up until the Combine. So, we were in constant communication with them. I use that 'It's going to get worse before it gets better.' We started off; we were far apart. Then, just over the days, weeks, hours, we eventually got closer. It pretty much came all the way down to the finish line, I think. Literally, it was like 3:54. The deal got done. And there was a lot of moving parts to it. But without getting into the details of the sticking points and whatnot, I thought for the most part, at the end of the day, we'd get a deal done. Again, I said it all along that franchising him wasn't best for the franchise and it wasn't best for (quarterback) Daniel (Jones). So, at the end of the day, I was pleased to get it done. It definitely went up to the wire.

Q: You talk a lot about walkaway numbers and lines in the sand. Did you have to slide that at all as the clock was ticking yesterday? Or did you hold firm at whatever that number was in your mind throughout the process?

A: All the way to the end, you're not going to get everything you want in a negotiation. Rarely is that ever going to happen. I think that goes for both sides. There was give and take. People were standing firm on what was most important for each side. At the end of the day, each side had to give a little bit. That's why it went down to the wire. We're happy we were able to get it done.

Q: You came in here with Dabs (head coach Brian Daboll) and were evaluating everybody and certainly did not have to fall in love with Daniel Jones as a quarterback. You didn't draft him. By giving him this deal, are you saying that you feel you can win a Super Bowl with him?

A: Yeah, that's the goal. Everybody's goal is to win a Super Bowl. I think Daniel, he played well his rookie year. He played well for us this past year. I think the coaching staff has confidence in him. As an organization, we have a confidence in him. We're going to continue to build the team around him. That's the ultimate goal.

Q: Would you say that this contract is about what he can do rather than what he has done? Because around the league, a lot of people look at this and say, 'Daniel Jones – $40 million a year? No way.' And they just recite numbers that show he's not a $40 million a year quarterback. So, why is he?

A: We can't worry about what people are saying outside the building. All we care about is inside these walls. And we've got a very talented, experienced coaching staff and a very talented personnel staff, I believe. And what matters is what we think inside this building. That's how we're always going to make decisions. We're not going to worry about the outside noise. And we're going to be convicted in what we're doing. It's a well thought out process, and we're happy with the decision that we made. And we're happy to move forward with Daniel.

Q: Did you put any pressure on yourself as the process moved along – the idea that you knew what you wanted to accomplish, and you knew what you didn't want to happen? As it started getting closer, did you have to dig in and maybe learn a little bit about yourself in this negotiation as far as how to handle it, how to deal with the emotions? We just asked Daniel whether that was on the other side of the table or not? From your perspective, what did you come away with down the stretch of this negotiation?

A: I think the quarterback deals are always going to be the – I talked to a couple of general managers at the Combine. The quarterback deals are the difficult ones. I went through one a few years ago with (Buffalo Bills quarterback) Josh (Allen). I learned a lot from how (Buffalo Bills general manager) Brandon (Beane) handled the situation. (Senior Vice President of Football Operations & Strategy) Kevin Abrams did a great job. (So did Director of Football Operations) Ed Triggs, (Football Operations Assistant) Charles Tisch, (Football Data & Systems Coordinator) Max Kirin, (Director of Football Data & Innovation) Tyseer Siam. They all did a great job whether it was stats, where we were going with our incentives, contract structure, whatever it was, the negotiating part. They all did an amazing job. Last year, we didn't have a lot of money. So, this is kind of my first time going through a major deal with the team and the negotiating team that's here. And they did a phenomenal job. So, there was some learning there back and forth. I know I'm stubborn. I know I like to dig in. Some of that came out, probably different sides of me that those guys hadn't seen. But my experiences that I had in Buffalo, I leaned on some of that. Again, it was a deal we wanted to get done. So, you have to be willing to be flexible with these deals. That's how we eventually got it done – just being flexible and doing what's best for the franchise. I was at peace with whichever way we went with it at the end, whether it was franchise (tag) or getting the deal done. But ultimately my job was to do what was best for the franchise and keep that in mind. I think where we landed was best for both parties.

Q: Did you guys have kind of a drop-dead time where you said, 'You know what? We can't be messing around knowing that Wi-Fi goes down and the tag doesn't go into the league office.' We had that fax issue years ago with (former Broncos defensive end Elvis) Dumervil, I think it was.

A: That came up. One of our guys was saying, 'I don't trust the Wi-Fi. We've got to get this in.' So, that was real. We tried to propose like, 'Hey, noon deadline. Let's agree to something by noon and then that way we don't have to scramble at the end.' And that didn't happen. We went all the way to the deadline. We were scrambling. We were prepared. We had several emails prepared, depending which way everything went. Fortunately, I think the best-case scenario came to fruition.

Q: Obviously, with you guys extending Daniel, you were able to franchise tag (running back) Saquon (Barkley). So, I was just wondering where things stand right now with him. Are you guys still negotiating? How are those negotiations going? Is there hope you might be able to get something long-term done with him as well before the new league year begins?

A: I'm going to talk to Saquon today. I talked to him yesterday before we put the franchise tag on him. Again, we've had deals out, whether it's the bye week or recently. We're going to continue to negotiate. We love Saquon. He's a good teammate. He's a captain. He's a hell of a player. So, right now, he's under the franchise tag. As we build the team and continue with our offseason plan, we'll do what's best for the team. We're still mapping that out.

Q: Daniel said he was in the building yesterday when the deal went down. I was wondering if you were able to talk with him after, what those conversations were like and now that it's finally settled, what it was like to kind of see him in that atmosphere and that environment.

A: I think it was a big relief for everybody. It was stressful enough over the three weeks as we're going through the process. But then with the time crunch at the end, it was just added stress on top of it all the way up to the deadline. I think there was a sense of relief on all parties afterwards, gave some big hugs. Then I ran off to do the other things that we needed to do before four o'clock. Again, he was here late last night to sign the deal. I think there was just a lot of relief on both sides.

Q: For the fans, you can sit around, and you can say, 'The Giants went into free agency with $48 million – or whatever the number is – in cap space.' For the average guy, you're going to think, 'Well Daniels is getting $40 (million). Saquon is getting $10 (million). Do you have anything for anybody else?' Can you explain to them how there is money available for other people?

A: Yeah, with the salary cap and the signing bonus, again, where we were, the way we did Daniel's deal with the signing bonus, that spreads out over four years. And then his P5 is $9.5 (million) this year. And then the proration of the signing bonus, which I think was $36 (million), so that's where we have money there. Everybody looks at the $40 (million) number, but that frees up some money. We'll see what happens with Saquon. The franchise number is just over $10 (million). If you extend him, and there's a signing bonus involved, you can free up more cap space. There's more people. (Defensive lineman) Dexter Lawrence is a guy we've started talking with his representatives. He's on the fifth-year option. You can lower that number with a signing bonus. So, the signing bonus allows you to spread the money over the length of the contract up to five years, and that's how you're able to lower the yearly amount that counts against the cap.

Q: And it leaves you money for everybody else?

Q: You mentioned that you've had conversations with Dexter Lawrence's reps, but I'm just wondering: with Daniel having fallen into place, Saquon a tag in place now, where do you stand with decisions regarding (wide receiver) Kenny Golladay? Is he a pre-June (cut) or a post-June (cut)? And also, what about (defensive lineman) Leo(nard Williams), who I think you'd mentioned you were looking to maybe do something with him?

A: Those are ongoing conversations. We got back from the Combine late Sunday night. Athletes First was here on Monday. The meetings that I've had this morning are usually done the Monday after the Combine. So, it was kind of a 'wait and see' until we knew where we landed with Daniel and Saquon. And now that we're there, now we're really going into strategy meetings leading up to Monday when we can start negotiating with free agents. Kenny – we'll see. There's a good chance that we just take the hit this year. We already have some money that's dead money in 2024. Just to get through this past season, we had to do some financial moves and actually kick dead money into 2024. So, if we can take our medicine this year, I think that'll help us in 2024 and get out of the business of having a lot of dead money in any year.

Q: The advantage to making Kenny a post-June 1 (cut) is that you don't get to use the money after June 1, but you get a lot more. And you of course have a spillover to the following year when the cap goes up. Might that be an option for you to consider, considering that will give you enough to get you through 2023, plus if you want to extend somebody, now you have a nice little cushion?

A: That can be said for next year if you're sitting there with $17 million in dead money, and it's 12 months from now, (you might think), 'Gosh dang, I wish we would have just taken our medicine last year. We'd have more money.' And we have (tackle) Andrew Thomas who's a good player, (safety) Xavier McKinney – there's other players on the roster who you may want to extend, or you may want to go outside the building. So, if we have the financial flexibility just to take our medicine and take on the dead money this year, that may be better. But those are all decisions that we'll make moving forward. We're having those meetings now and going through what the best-case scenarios are. We still have until Wednesday to make that decision.

Q: Now that you have Daniel under wraps, and I'm going to presume Saquon, how do you go about making this offense better and making this team better around what is now your franchise quarterback?

A: There's several avenues. Now we have some financial flexibility this year. This morning, we're going over the free agent market. I know people want to talk about offense and the receivers a lot, but we're still building a team in all three phases. We're going to look to upgrade offensively, defensively and our special teams unit. So, it's nice, again, to have the draft capital that we have, the financial flexibility we have to really start building this thing. I don't want to say this starts the build, because we made some moves last year and through the draft and some waiver wire claims that are still going to be here. But this is finally where we have flexibility and draft capital, second draft class. And we can really start building this thing knowing that we have Daniel in place.

Q: You inherited somewhat of a mess last season. Is there a way you would be able to explain to us how much better you feel about the organization right now and its flexibility in some respects?

A: (Laughs) I'll give you a good example. We were just talking about a player. I won't name the position or anything. We were like, 'Yeah, we're guessing his market might be $2.5 (million),' and I was like, 'We can afford that. It's only $2.5 (million). We can actually afford it.' We're not shopping for minimum players anymore. So, even players like that that can be really good depth players will make us that much better. So, just having the flexibility now to be creative, go get players at maybe a little bit higher value, but also being able to sign, whether it's tier three players, two, one, however you do it. We can map it out, and there's players that we can go procure now that maybe we weren't in the past. So, this offseason we'll build a bit. I still believe in building through the draft. And we can sign guys in free agency to help the roster. I still think with Daniel and Dexter coming down the road and some of the other players, you're still going to need to build through the draft because I think there's going to be some players who will be making good money on our roster. So, it's still going to be important.

Q: Did you hear from anyone in Buffalo congratulating you? You went through that with Josh, obviously. And now you have your own situation.

A: Yeah, I had a few. A lot of those. And talking with Brandon (Beane); I talked to him last night. I watched him go through this, but until you actually go through it, you don't realize the stress, the pressure, the back and forth and sleepless nights and how much it weighs on you. I told him I totally understand now those mornings when he came in and he looked like hell because he wasn't sleeping. And I knew exactly where he was.

Q: In the eleventh hour when you said both sides had to stand for what they wanted most and then concede some things. As Daniel ends up getting $40 million – getting his guaranteed money – what do you feel like the team got in concessions that were important to you guys at the end of the day?

A: I don't want to get into the details of it, but we came to a spot where what was important to them and what was important to us, we came to an agreement. They got what they wanted, and we got what we wanted. And there were some concessions on other things that maybe weren't as big of a priority. So, we hashed that out all the way up to the end. And I think where they gave and where we gave, I really do (think that) the best deals are won when both parties are happy at the end. I think that's the landing spot we came to.

Q: (Safety) Julian Love looks like a guy who you now have to turn your attention to. Wondering if you have any optimism that that will get done or if you feel that there's still a gap there with about a week to play with here?

A: That's a good question. We're going to reach out to our UFAs today. Kevin Abrams did an amazing job, Ed Triggs, those guys did awesome, Charles Tisch. We're going to start reaching out to the agents today, kind of seeing where they are, where we are. We're going to see if we can get something done before Wednesday, when the new league year starts. We'll be in constant communication with those guys over the next few days.

Q: How involved or not involved was (President and Chief Executive Officer, Board Director) John Mara in this deal actually happening, at the end getting done? How involved was he in the process?

A: John Mara, (Senior Player Personnel Executive, Board Director) Chris Mara, (Executive Vice President, Chairman of The Board) Steve Tisch, I got a text chain with them. I called them. I talked to them. I kept them abreast since the beginning of the process we started three weeks ago. So, phone calls or text chains just keeping them abreast of what was going on.

Q: How much time do you guys think that you and their side put in in the last two or three days? I know they came out here Monday. Did you guys pull an all-nighter that night? How long were you working on it? Were there points where you guys separated and were like, 'Man, I'm not sure we're getting there,'?

A: We were here late Monday night, back in early Tuesday morning. It was on our mind that last 72 hours – I'd say the last three weeks because we've been in constant communication. But them being here physically, we met with them nine straight days up to the end, in person. Nine straight days of meetings; that's a lot of time, whether it was at the Combine or when they were here. So, a lot of time. It got a little dicey as it was getting close to 3:30, 3:40. There was part of me that was like, 'We may not get to the finish line.' Again, the last four or five minutes, we tied a bow on it, luckily.

Q: You said both sides kind of stood ground on what was important to them. I'm curious: what was important to you when you went into this deal? What did you want to get out of it – a big picture?

A: I wanted to know we had our quarterback here and it wasn't a franchise tag type of teal. So, 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. That's what was important to me. The fact that we didn't have to put the franchise tag on him and the way the deal was structured and the years, I think both parties were happy at the end.

Q: When a new regime comes in – you and Dabs came in last year – this is not how this usually goes when there's a quarterback in place that there's a question about. I'm curious if a year ago you thought you'd be here today – signing Daniel to a long-term contract and when you really thought that that's the direction that you wanted to go.

A: I would say if I thought I was going to be here a year ago, I would've done the fifth-year option. But again, I knew from doing work on Daniel coming out of the draft, the type of person he was. From everybody in the building, the type of person he was, his work ethic. He has all the physical tools. He's athletic. He can make all the throws. Just the situation he was in, I do think you have to look into that. Year two and three, what he went through. The talent that was around him, the injuries. There's a lot that went into it. But being around Daniel for the last 13 months and seeing him play and the fourth-quarter comebacks and winning a playoff game on the road, there's a lot of positives that a 25-year-old young man just displayed throughout the season. And the upside, I've got a lot of belief in our staff and Daniel's work ethic and their relationship that will continue to grow, and Daniel will continue to get better. If he's just at his floor right now, I'm really excited about what his ceiling is going to be.

Q: You mentioned Saquon, but he had said as soon as the season ended that if he was tagged, he would not be happy. Do you get the impression right now that he is not happy? Or have you alleviated that by saying, 'We're still working here, Saquon,'?

A: I haven't talked in-depth with Saquon yet. I'm going to talk with him today. That's negotiations. We had some deals out there, and we tried to get a deal done with him and his representatives. And we couldn't. I think both parties knew at the end of the day that this was an option, and if he's frustrated, I can understand some of that. We could be frustrated as well that we weren't able to get a deal done. I love Saquon. He's a good player. He's going to be a part of this team going forward. We'll see where it goes from here.

Q: How much of an impact, now that you do have some money to go out and spend, how much of an impact do you think free agency, outside free agents, can have on improving your team this offseason?

A: At certain positions, I think it'll have a major impact, depending on where we go and the price point. Again, we can't negotiate until Monday. So, we're not really certain where some of these players are going to be from a financial standpoint, contract years and those types of things. So, we'll be fiscally responsible with the moves that we make. Again, I think when you're signing people outside the building, you've got to make sure you're right on the character, the medical. It's not like the draft where we can go to the Combine, and we can do physicals on these guys and see where they may have previous injuries and what those look like. You don't get to interview them and go to their schools and all that stuff. So, we've got to be diligent with our research on the players and also, like I said, be fiscally responsible with where you pay these guys. So, we're going to do our research. I think we've got some players targeted that will make impacts if the contract structure is right. And again, if not, we have plan B, C and D if we need to go there.

Q: Just following up on (a previous question) about Julian. You had said last week, 'Some guys have been released. Let's see where the safety market is going.' How do you feel about, without naming any names, this free agent safety market?

A: I think there's some depth there. I really do. When you're looking at the markets, I think you really need to look at the draft, too. Let's say it's a deep safety market in free agency, and there's some really good safeties in the draft, well then sometimes that suppresses the market. We'll take all that into account. If a player and their price gets out of hand, we also know what the landscape of the draft looks like. There's different avenues where you can acquire players. Again, we'll make sure that we're aware of all those.