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Giants News | New York Giants – Giants.com

GM Joe Schoen, Coach Brian Daboll turn page to 2023

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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Joe Schoen confirmed today the Giants want to extend their relationship Daniel Jones, who said yesterday he wants to remain with the team.

Schoen, beginning his second year as the Giants' general manager, also expressed his support for re-signing running back Saquon Barkley, the Giants' other marquee free agent.

"We'd like Daniel to be here," Schoen, the team's general manager, said in response to the first question at the joint season-ending news conference he held with coach Brian Daboll. "Again, he said it yesterday, there's a business side to it. We feel like Daniel played well this season. He's done everything that we've asked him to do. There's a business side to it, we haven't (gone) down that road yet. We still have to have our meetings with our staff late in the week and we'll devise an offseason plan. We haven't had those meetings yet, but we would like to have Daniel Jones back."

Later in the news conference, Schoen was asked if he considers Jones a quarterback who can help the Giants win a Super Bowl.

"We're happy Daniel's going to be here," Schoen said. "We're happy he's going to be here. Hopefully we can get something done with his representatives. That would be the goal – to build a team around him where he can lead us to win a Super Bowl."

Because Jones, who just completed his fourth season, is an unrestricted free agent, a clarification was sought regarding his statements that Jones is "going to be here."

"We're going to have these offseason meetings here at the end of the week, and we're going to talk about it," Schoen said. "And then with the resources that we have, we're going to talk to his representatives and hopefully be able to get something done to go off the first question."

Daboll, a consistently strong Jones supporter since his arrival last year, also endorsed the quarterback's return.

"I've said it all year, he's done everything that we've asked him to do as an offensive staff," Daboll said. "He's done a really good job of operating and executing our offense. I think he's made strides in a lot of different areas. Certainly, we can all make strides in more, but he's been a good leader for us, played the quarterback position well for us. I'm happy we had him."

Jones, speaking at his locker yesterday, was clear that he wants to continue playing for the Giants.

"I love this place," he said. "I've really enjoyed my time here. I want to be here. I think there's a business side of it all, and a lot of that I can't control. So, I really enjoy it. Love and respect for this organization, the ownership and the guys in this locker room. So, I'd love to be here. I've really enjoyed being here. And we'll see how that all works out."

In the 2022 season, Jones started a career-high 16 games and would have played all 17 had the Giants not been locked into the sixth seed in the NFC playoffs. He led the Giants to a 9-7-1 record in the regular season and a wild card victory in Minnesota, the Giants' first postseason triumph since 2011 and their first playoff appearance since 2016. The season ended Saturday night with a 38-7 divisional round loss to the top-seeded Eagles in Philadelphia.

Jones completed a Giants-record 67.2% of his passes, finished with a career-high 92.5 passer rating, and led with NFL by throwing an interception on just 1.1% of his passes (five in 472 throws). He was also second on the team with 708 rushing yards and seven touchdowns, both records for a Giants quarterback.

Though both Jones and the Giants have said publicly they want to preserve their partnership, they must still agree on a contract. Financial considerations are always dominant, but the length of the deal is also important.

"We're going to get into all that," Schoen said. "Again, both sides have to have those conversations. We haven't crossed that bridge yet. There are tools at our disposal; we'll go through several scenarios. It's like I mentioned last year, maybe it was at the combine, but the 'if then' scenarios. You've got to go through all those because you don't know how things are going to fall, because it's negotiating. This is why you love the draft – you turn in the card and they're yours. You know what the contract structure is, you know the years.

"This is where there's two parties involved and it's going to be time consuming. We'll get together as a staff, we'll talk through the different options and have those discussions when it's appropriate."

As they will with Barkley, who was one of the NFL's best running backs this season. After missing multiple games in each of the previous three seasons due to injuries, Barkley also would have played in every contest had something been on the line for the Giants in Week 18. He was selected to his second Pro Bowl and one was one three NFL players to lead his team in both rushing (1,312 yards, the NFL's fourth-highest total) and receptions (57, tied with Richie James). Barkley, who scored a team-high 10 touchdowns, was seventh in the league with 1,650 scrimmage yards.

"Saquon, he's a good player," Schoen said. "He's a great teammate. I loved getting to know him this season. He's a guy we would like to have back. It's just, again, we haven't had our end-of-season meetings yet. We're less than 48 hours after that game. Everybody is going to step back, take the emotion out of it, evaluate the roster and then, again, we've got to operate under the salary cap. How are you going to divvy up? How are we going to create the roster? What are the priority positions, and how are we going to move forward? We would like to have Saquon back if it works out."

The Giants and Barkley's representatives discussed a contract during the bye week in November but did not reach an agreement. 

"We had productive conversations," Schoen said. "We were off on the value. We said we would circle back up at the end of the season and continue those conversations, but at that time of year, we weren't really that close." 

Some teams are reluctant to sign veteran running backs to large contracts because of the pounding they absorb and because the player's value doesn't always match his salary. They believe you can get a talented back at a relatively modest salary and look to spend big money at what they consider more valuable positions.

"I wouldn't say all of them haven't panned out, but there's a risk to any big contract," Schoen said. "Anybody can go out there and get hurt at any position. I think that's a risk-reward. The good thing about extending people in-house – you know their work ethic, you know their durability, you know their injury history, you know how they train, you know how they practice. In terms of eliminating some of the margin for error, it's a known commodity.

"Saquon has done everything we've asked him to do and he's a good football player. The positional value – we'll get into how we want to build this team and allocate our resources. That's what it comes down to. Again, he's a good football player, he was durable for us this year, he played well and, again, he's a guy that we would like to have back."

Re-live the season with the best photos from the Giants' 2022 playoff campaign.

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