In February 2023, Daniel Jones hit headlines for all the wrong reasons as his representatives sought a $47 Million per year deal from the Giants. Interestingly, New York’s #8 quarterback asked for a salary higher than Patrick Mahomes, who earned $45M per year. However, the Giants initiated the negotiations and settled for a $40 Million per year deal.
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Cut to the 2024 pre-season, the 27-year-old has not justified his price tag, since his 2023 season was a disaster. Additionally, the QB market witnessed a spike with Jordan Love, Joe Burrow, and Trevor Lawrence securing $55M per year extensions, totaling $200M plus deals. In this context, former Panthers QB Cam Newton offered a thoughtful reminder to all NFL teams.
At a time when QBs such as Dak Prescott are in the waiting room, Newton turned the clock back to the 2023 season. According to the 4th & 1 podcast host, a high-paying QB is either going to be a “savior” or a “sabotage” in the 2024 season, because ultimately there’s going to be only “one Super Bowl winner”.
The former #1 quarterback cited the Daniel Jones example to prove his point, saying,
“Daniel Jones signed his deal a couple of years ago. Everybody felt good about it, internally. So I can’t answer, I can’t tell you, I can’t insinuate, I can’t whisper that. Only time going to tell that.”
According to the 35-year-old, a high-paid contract is no guarantee of a good performance. Unfortunately, Jones proved Newton right in the 2023 season following his lopsided performance. With a low passer rating of 70.5, the Giants QB scored 2 touchdowns from 6 games, completing 909 yards. He had a disappointing tally of six interceptions but is looking to make a comeback in the 2024-25 season.
When talking about QB deals, the former Patriots star highlighted Tom Brady as an example. He outlined how it isn’t the contract size, but the talent that matters the most in the NFL.
Newton Revisits Brady’s NFL Draft
While explaining his views in the 4 & 1 podcast, Newton detailed how Brady became the franchise QB of the Patriots despite his lowly sixth round, 199th draft pick in the 2000 Draft. Interestingly, this was a one-off incident, considering how teams always look to draft the top QBs early.
“Arguably the greatest quarterback to ever play is who? If he [Tom Brady] was so good, why didn’t he go first? So, I’m not saying that, that’s not my point. My point is, there was other quarterbacks that somebody thought was going to be the franchise savior. That savior came by way in the sixth round. Make sense to you? You don’t know until you know”.
Thus, according to Newton, it is not the size of the contract but the consistency that counts. Interestingly, this is the same factor that helped Patrick Mahomes make four Super Bowl appearances in the last five years.
