Exclusive: Giants’ QB Daniel Jones has ‘a total believer’ in Chris Simms

Simms tells Big Blue View that Jones ‘fits the mold’ of a Giants quarterback, and should continue to improve

If you are upset about the dollar amounts reportedly being tossed around in the New York Giants’ negotiations with quarterback Daniel Jones, Chris Simms has a question for you.

Have you been to the grocery store lately?

“I’m shocked at how much coffee is on the shelf, but that’s the going market. People have got to back off a little bit,” Simms said this week during an exclusive chat with Big Blue View at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine. “Hey, $40 million, that’s a little much for me, too. But again [that’s] the going market for a good quarterback right now, and that’s what we’re putting him in. We’re not saying he’s great, but he’s good right now and you can win, like he showed this year. It’s going to be somewhere between $30 and $40 million dollars. Get used to it.

“The No. 2 receivers on teams are making $18 million a year, so of course the starting quarterback is going to make that kind of money.”

The NFL salary cap is, of course, skyrocketing. The cap was $208.2 million in 2022 and is $224.8 million in 2023. In 2024, with money from deals with Amazon and others filling the NFL coffers, the cap is projected to rise to $256 million. By 2025, Over The Cap projects the cap will be $282 million.

“The NFL is killing it right now. A dollar now is going to be worth a lot less two years from now. We’re gonna go, damn, that’s actually a pretty good deal,” Simms said.

“We’re all going with Patrick Mahomes, ‘$500 million?’ Well, damn, it’s one of the best superstar friendly quarterback contracts ever to an organization.”

Simms, son of former Giants Super Bowl-winning quarterback Phil Simms, is a former NFL quarterback himself. He is currently an NFL analyst for NBC Sports and co-host of ‘PFT Live’ with Mike Florio.

Simms is firmly on the Jones bandwagon.

“I’m a believer is Daniel Jones,” Simms said. “I was not a guy that loved him coming out in the draft, but the more and more I’ve seen of him as a player, seeing him in person, seeing how he handles himself I am a total believer.

“I think it’s only going to go this way [up].”

Jones clearly had the best season of his four-year career in 2022. Simms said it was also the best circumstance he has been placed in.

“We know he had no weapons to help him [before 2022],” Simms said. “Saquon [Barkley] was hurt two years ago, dealing with that. People go, ‘oh he’s been behind a bad offensive line’. I go no, no, no, not bad. It was the worst offensive line in football. It wasn’t even close the last two years.

“This is the first year they even had a fighting chance.”

If you have ever listened to Simms on ‘PFT Live,’ you know how fired up he can get at times. He was that way in defending Jones.

“People have got to realize there’s only a few guys in football that can overcome some of the obstacles. They’re like Mahomes and Josh Allen, only two Hall of Famers, that’s it. That’s what people [have] got to realize,” Simms said.

“I’ve made some noise – you don’t think Daniel Jones could have had success with the Eagles offense? We can run the ball up the middle for eight yards every play. Whoa, it’s one-on-one and I can throw a jump ball to A.J. Brown? We’ve got to evaluate it for what it is a little bit more than instead of just going wins and losses and stats and I’m going to look at it just like that. There was a lot of things going against him there the first few years.”

Simms wants to see a deal between Jones and the Giants.

“He’s a Giant quarterback. He just fits the mold. I know why they like him — he’s got some Eli Manning-Phil Simms in him where it’s just like he threw an interception it’s the same face, he threw a touchdown it’s kinda the same face,” Simms said. “You’re like is the f—ing guy ever happy or show emotion? In New York that works really well with all the crazy people like you and me and the New York Post and the Daily News always writing shit about you.”

Simms expects a deal that gives both sides something they want.

“Kind of front-loaded, can make some big money in Year 1 and Year 2, but maybe a four-year contract where if it goes south and we’re wrong we can get out of this and you can go somewhere else and we’re not killed, either,” Simms said.

“We can’t be sold yet that he’s THAT. Again, I love Daniel Jones. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Giants fan, too. I try to put myself like I was running the Giants. Yeah, I think he’s realistic enough to know the grass is pretty green where you are. This organization believes in you and you’ve got a coach that believes in you. Don’t just … oh, I can make $4 million more over here. OK, but do they believe in you, are they going to give you the chances, do they know what your character is? You’ve got to restart and sell yourself to a new football team and an organization and fan base.

“I think ultimately they’ll get it done the right way and find something that makes sense for both.”

— Give the full episode a listen by clicking the player below.

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