The New York Giants put an end to the Daniel Jones era this week, benching the sixth-year quarterback after a 2-8 start to the season. Not only was Jones benched, but he was relegated to third string, making him inactive on game days. Part of the reason for his benching is a stipulation in his contract that the Giants are hoping to avoid having to pay.
If Jones gets injured and is unable to pass his physical in March, the Giants would owe him $23 million in an injury guarantee in 2025. Making him inactive on game days protects the Giants from a potential injury payout. However, having Jones as the emergency third-string quarterback would still leave the team vulnerable. As a result, they reportedly signed a quarterback to their practice squad on Tuesday afternoon — a move likely made to protect their salary cap.
Giants are signing Tim Boyle to their practice squad
According to Art Stapleton of North Jersey, the Giants are signing veteran QB Tim Boyle to the practice squad. This is a crucial signing that will give the team insurance in case of injuries to new starter Tommy DeVito or second-string QB Drew Lock. Now, if the Giants need to put in a third-stringer, Boyle will likely get that nod over Jones, rendering the former starter unplayable for the rest of the season.
In other instances, quarterbacks who have been shut down due to injury guarantees have essentially gone home for the rest of the season — such as Derek Carr when he was benched by the Raiders in 2022. Jones is likely to be shut down for the year and prevented from seeing the field again this season due to his injury clause.
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Boyle is a 30-year-old veteran quarterback with plenty of experience under his belt. He has started five career games and appeared in 22 across six seasons with five different teams. He has a career 61.7% completion rate with a 4-12 TD-INT ratio. The Giants will hope Boyle never sees the field for them — however, despite his poor statistics, they would rather send Boyle out there than Jones as they hope to preserve their salary cap health for the future.
