QB Daniel Jones will be ‘the guy’ for the Giants when he returns

There really hasn’t been much doubt as to whether Daniel Jones was going to begin the season as the New York Giants starting quarterback. However, if there were any lingering questions, Brian Daboll threw some cold water on any sort of speculation.

In an interview with NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Daboll reaffirmed that Jones was “the guy.”

“We’re excited to have Drew (Lock), and he knows what his role is going to be,” Daboll said. “He’s going to get a lot of reps this spring, he needs to learn our system, but again excited to get Daniel back, when he gets back he’ll be the guy.”

With how the offseason has played out for the Giants, this isn’t exactly news. It’s already been reported that when the team met with Russell Wilson, they made it known that he wasn’t going to be handed the starting job. Lock has also said since joining the team that it’s clearly been conveyed to him that Jones is the starter.

Prior to Jones’ ACL injury last season, he was having a rough go of it, as was the Giants’ offense as a whole. Although Jones was completing 67.5 percent of his throws, he was averaging just 5.7 yards per pass attempt and threw only two touchdowns to six interceptions.

It was just last offseason that the Giants and Jones agreed to a new four-year deal worth $160 million, including $82 million paid out over the first two seasons.

This was on the heels of a 2022 season where Jones completed 67 percent of his passes, throwing for 3,642 yards with 17 touchdowns to six interceptions. He also rushed for 805 yards and seven scores.

With Pelissero, Daboll added that they do not yet know if Jones will be available for Week 1, and because of that, emphasized the importance of Lock picking up the offense quickly.

Although the starting job belongs to Jones once he is healthy, the Giants need him to perform better upon his return than what he did last season.

However, if things don’t work out that way, then just because he’s beginning the season as the starter doesn’t mean he’s going to finish the year in that capacity–especailly with Daboll in a bit of a prove-it year. He has to win games now.

To a degree, there is some uncertainty around Jones and what to expect when he’s back on the field. It’s for this reason that the Giants very well could be in the quarterback market in the draft; the question is, to what degree?

As I wrote about recently, I don’t expect the Giants to trade up to pick four to take one of the top quarterbacks. Of course, if Drake Maye or JJ McCarthy – both of whom have visited the Giants as part of the pre-draft process – were to fall to the Giants at pick six, then that’s a completely different story and would take away the established certainty of the starting quarterback job belonging to Jones.

With that said, right now, the safe bet is that the top four quarterbacks will be off the board by the time the Giants are on the clock, and New York will be able to address their need at receiver by selecting one of the top prospects.

Perhaps then they use a Day 2 or early Day 3 pick on the quarterback position, with Tulane’s Michael Pratt and South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler being two developmental options.

While Jones’ new contract didn’t go into force all that long ago, the Giants are able to get out of it after this season. While doing so would require them to take on a dead cap hit of $22.2 million for the 2025 season, the move would also create $19.3 million in cap space at that time.

This is just another reason why quarterback isn’t out of the question for the Giants in this year’s draft, even with the continued firm commitment to Jones for 2024.