Report: Giants Exercising Option Year on QB Alex Tanney's Contract

Alex Tanney will stick around for the time being in support of Daniel Jones as he enters his second season as a starter.

Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

Quarterback Daniel Jones might not have Eli Manning in the Giants team quarterbacks meeting room any more. Still, he’ll have at least one familiar face alongside him this year as the team has reportedly exercised the option year on backup Alex Tanney’s contract.

The Giants have exercised the 2020 option for QB Alex Tanney, per source. He’ll compete to be Daniel Jones’ back-up this season.

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 3, 2020

The team’s decision to exercise Tanney’s option year means he’ll count for $1.037 million under the cap ($950,000 base salary with a prorated signing bonus of $367,500 and a $25,000 workout bonus).

Had the Giants not exercised the option year in Tanney’s contract, he would have been an unrestricted free agent eligible to sign with another team. And had he done so, would not have counted against the formula used to calculate comp draft picks.

The 32-year-old Tanney has been the Giants backup quarterback the last two seasons. He was demoted last year to third-string after now-former head coach Pat Shurmur flipped the order to make Jones the starter and Manning his backup.

Tanney, meanwhile, appeared in just one game for the Giants last season, completing one pass for one yard.

Tanney, who entered the NFL in 2012 as an undrafted free agent out of Monmouth (IL), has played with eight different teams.

Overall, he’s appeared in two games, completing 11-of-15 passes (73.3 percent) for 100 yards and one touchdown.