It keeps coming back to this with Daniel Jones and the Giants.
They will be together next season but if Jones is back only because he was prevented from leaving by the restrictions of the franchise tag it is going to greatly diminish the chances for the team to build on its 2022 success.
The point of all this is for the Giants to move forward and grow with Jones and that growth will be limited if he costs $32.4 million on the salary cap, a total that would be reduced by more than half if the Giants and Jones can come to a multiyear contract agreement.
“That’s something everybody realizes,” general manager Joe Schoen said Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine.
“If you have to franchise Daniel, I don’t think that’s best for the organization and I don’t think it’s best for Daniel, especially as we try to build the team around him and questions about receiver, other positions on the other side of the ball where we may need depth.
“It does hurt you a little bit in terms of the team-building process but we’re prepared if that’s the scenario we’re faced with. We have a Plan B and we’ll try to execute that as best we can.”