Tag: Daniel Jones

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.

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Giants QB Daniel Jones may have been shell-shocked in 2023

New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones has been the subject of scrutiny since he was drafted in 2019. He’s gone through three coaching changes and an entire front office change in five years, but NFL metrics don’t really care about your circumstances.

Last season was Jones’ worst to date, even before he was injured.

But there may have been a specific reason for Jones’ regression in 2023. Giants legend Carl Banks feels he may have been “shellshocked” as the result of the beating taken behind one of the worst offensive lines in NFL history.

“And the other thing . . . is his mental state, right? He’s been beat up and I don’t have any doubt that he’ll go out and he’ll compete,” Banks said on the Bleav in Giants podcast. “But when the lights come on and the bullets start to fly, is he PTSD? Is he traumatized? Is he having flashbacks? Right? Is he shell-shocked because he took a lot of punishment and it impacted his judgment in the game?

“And that’s not an excuse. It’s fair and it’s not a lie. You know, when people say, well, you know, Daniel just can’t do this and you blame everything on the offensive line. Well, that’s how it works in the NFL. Quarterback to have time, (they) make good judgments. Quarterbacks get hit a lot, they make bad judgments.”

Banks said several things in that statement that everyone needs to see: PTSD, traumatized, and flashbacks. If you’ve ever been traumatized or had PTSD related to trauma, you know that when the trigger shows up, your body and brain slip into survival mode.

When that happens, a person has limited control over how their body responds. This means that a person could freeze up (a real problem for a QB) or run straight into danger to go through it (likely causing injury).

No one wants to say this can be his excuse but if Jones is having a trauma response because his line previously failed him resulting in hits he shouldn’t have had to take, that is absolutely not his fault. It’s an organizational failure and one that will negatively impact Jones for, potentially, the rest of his career.

Was Jones ‘shellshocked’ as Banks suspects? It’s hard to say. But it would certainly explain some of his reactions last year.



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Antonio Brown takes repeated aim at New York Giants’ Daniel Jones

Ex-NFL All-Pro wide receiver Antonio Brown, who has been known for his erratic behavior both on and off the field, has strangely chosen New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones as his latest subject to lampoon.

The 35-year-old Brown, who last played in the NFL for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021, has lobbed several posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, blasting the Giants for sticking with Jones, whom he apparently has little respect for as a player or person.

As far as we know, Jones and Brown do not have a personal relationship and Jones has never commented about Brown — at least publicly.

It is a curious avenue for Brown, who has a long litany of bizarre behavior to his credit, to go down. Jones has been nothing but respectful and professional since joining the Giants back in 2019.

At some point, we’ll get Jones’ side to this, but then again, knowing him, he’ll just shrug it off.



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Giants told Russell Wilson that Daniel Jones would remain starter

Shortly after the New York Giants signed quarterback Drew Lock, Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider caused a stir.

Appearing on The Wyman and Bob Show, Schneider claimed that the Giants sold Lock on the possibility of winning the starting job over Daniel Jones.

“They basically sold him on the opportunity to compete to be the starter,” Schneider said. “And he felt like it was the right opportunity. He looked at Baker Mayfield’s opportunity last year and felt that this could be something similar.”

The only problem? That never happened.

During his introductory press conference, Lock told reporters that Giants brass made it abundantly clear that Jones would remain the starter and he would serve as the backup.

“Daniel Jones is the starter of this team. That’s been conveyed to me,” Lock said. “Now, I need to come in and push Daniel to be the best that he can be. That’s the role that I played for Geno (Smith), that’s the role I played for Teddy (Bridgewater).”

It’s a message that wasn’t delivered to Lock alone.

Before inking Lock to a new deal, the Giants held an “exploratory meeting” with veteran quarterback Russell Wilson, who ultimately ended up signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Jeff Howe of The Athletic reports that like Lock, the Giants informed Wilson that Jones would remain the starter and there was no guarantee he’d receive significant playing time.

Lock, indeed, was not offered a chance to compete for the starting job, according to a league source. The Giants did sell him on the idea of working with head coach Brian Daboll, who has a quarterback-friendly system that led to Jones’ best season in 2022.

There’s a pattern here, too. The Giants had an exploratory meeting last week with Russell Wilson, and the team didn’t make any promises about playing time, according to league sources. That’s been the Giants’ approach as they’ve built toward the 2024 season with Jones as the expected starter.

Despite outside speculation, Giants general manager Joe Schoen has been remarkably transparent about the team’s stance on Jones. When he’s healthy, he’s the starter and their faith in him has not waned.

Jones, who is recovering from a torn ACL, is expected to be ready for the start of training camp.

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New York Giants made it clear Daniel Jones is starting QB

Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider caused a stir earlier this week, suggesting that the New York Giants sold quarterback Drew Lock on the possibility of being a starter.

“They basically sold him on the opportunity to compete to be the starter,” Schneider said on The Wyman and Bob Show. “And he felt like it was the right opportunity. He looked at Baker Mayfield’s opportunity last year and felt that this could be something similar.”

The implication was that Lock would compete with Jones for the starting job and that’s why the Seahawks were unable to retain him.

Schneider indicated that Lock viewed it as a Baker Mayfield-like situation from a year ago.

Lock clarified those remarks during his introductory press conference on Friday, saying he never spoke to Schneider about Mayfield and that the Giants made it clear Jones is their starter.

“Daniel Jones is the starter of this team. That’s been conveyed to me,” Lock said. “Now, I need to come in and push Daniel to be the best that he can be. That’s the role that I played for Geno [Smith], that’s the role I played for Teddy [Bridgewater].

Luck also revealed that he’s no stranger to Jones. The two were roommates at the 2019 Senior Bowl and while they got along, DJ was a little put off by some of Lock’s habits.

“I had a lot of fun with him that week,” Lock said. “He was a great roommate. He might’ve thought I was a little messy at times.”



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New York Giants had ‘an exploratory meeting’ with Russell Wilson

The New York Giants are in the market for a quarterback this offseason and the first domino has apparently fallen.

On Friday morning, veteran quarterback Russell Wilson stopped over in East Rutherford for “an exploratory meeting” with the New York Giants before traveling to Pittsburgh to meet with the Steelers.

Giants general manager Joe Schoen is adamant that the team will add a quarterback to their room citing a lack of depth. Tyrod Taylor is an impending free agent and Daniel Jones, the presumed starter, is recovering from a neck injury and torn ACL.

When healthy, Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll say Jones will be the team’s starter. And although there is early optimism that DJ can return in time for training camp, there remains a possibility that he will miss the first few weeks of the regular season.

The 35-year-old Wilson is technically still a member of the Denver Broncos but the team has announced he will be released in the coming days. He’s been granted permission to meet with other teams.

Wilson also has some very limited crossover with Giants passing game coordinator/QB coach Shea Tierney.

In 15 games last season, Wilson completed 66.4 percent of his passes for 3,070 yards, 26 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. He also rushed for an additional 341 and three touchdowns (4.3 ypc).



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Louis Riddick roasts New York Giants for poor handling of Daniel Jones

“We’ve done everything possible to screw this kid up since he’s been here. We keep changing coaches, keep changing offensive coordinators, keep changing offensive line coaches. I take a lot of responsibility for that.”

Those were the words of New York Giants co-owner John Mara in January of 2022. He was publicly acknowledging that the organization had failed quarterback Daniel Jones and not the other way around.

Mara had previously shared similar sentiments about two-time Super Bowl champion Eli Manning, admitting that the franchise lost its way and essentially wasted the final years of his historic career.

Nearly three years removed from his comments on Manning and more than one year removed from his comments on Jones, nothing has changed for Mara’s Giants.

The franchise is still mired in staff turnover, injury, and inconsistency. They have one of the NFL’s worst win-loss records over the past decade and every issue that plagued them then continues to plague them now.

Entering the 2024 offseason, the Giants may or may not be ready to pull the plug on Jones just six games after signing him to a four-year, $160 million deal. Their general manager and head coach are firmly on the hot seat, and the past several months have been highlighted by circus-like dysfunction.

Louis Riddick, who once vied for the general manager job, has seen enough from these Giants. And although he is no fan of Jones, Riddick believes, as Mara once did, that the organization has failed their former first-round pick.

“Isn’t that amazing, how stuff can turn on its head? And you wonder why the Giants haven’t been able to make some headway in the (NFC) East and be true contenders? Because when you have this kind of thing that is happening within one calendar year, there’s no way you can make headway. There’s just no way,” Riddick said on Get Up.

“I just think it’s unfortunate. Look, I’ve never been a big, big supporter of Daniel Jones. I’ve always had my issues. But when you have this kind of flip-flopping and (these) kind of 180 turns away from people and these kind of structural deficiencies, no wonder you can’t make up any ground. No wonder.”

The Giants’ issues go far deeper than the player under center. They have persisted through multiple GMs, multiple head coaches, multiple coordinators, and a revolving door of personnel. Until they can diagnose the core cause for these failures, they will continue to waste the careers of their players.



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Daniel Jones’ injury history an issue New York Giants can not ignore

With the 2024 NFL Combine underway in Indianapolis, all eyes will be on the cluster of future franchise quarterbacks on display. Although some of them won’t throw at the event, it’s still the first leg of the run-up to April’s NFL draft.

The New York Giants could be in the market for one of those quarterbacks with the sixth overall pick after five seasons of Daniel Jones under center.

Jones has shown flashes of being a top quarterback but his injury history and inconsistency have made the Giants twitchy regardless of what general manager Joe Schoen says in public.

The fact is, the Giants have compiled the worst record in the NFC over the past decade, much of which can be credited to Schoen’s predecessor, Dave Gettleman.

Why they thought Jones — who had a 17-19 record at Duke — would be the answer at quarterback remains unclear. In five seasons, Jones has played just a few outstanding games and has just one playoff win to his credit.

But the painful reality is the Giants are in the NFC East, which contains postseason staples Philadelphia and Dallas, and now Washington is under new management and in a position to take one of the top quarterbacks in this draft with the second overall pick.

Jones has a disastrous record against Dallas and Philadelphia (3-10 as a starter) and rarely records wins against elite teams. The Giants have to be looking to move on if the situation presents itself.

As it turns out, they are.

“We’re going to look at everything,” Schoen told reporters in Indianapolis this week. “We’re going to look at all positions. You hope you’re not up there again; you don’t want to be picking in the top 10, but it’s a good draft. It’s a solid draft across the board, and we’re going to have an opportunity to get a good player, and we’re going to evaluate all the positions and take the best player we can.”

But Schoen also alerted the media pool that he is looking deeper into the draft for a quarterback as well as at the top.

“It’s a good quarterback draft. It’s not just at the top,” he said. “There are some guys that are mid-levels that I think will be good number twos. There are some guys that can be number threes in the draft. So yeah, I mean, I think it’s a solid draft all over.”

 

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Mel Kiper offers emphatic defense of New York Giants QB Daniel Jones

While many draft experts are advocating for the New York Giants to select a quarterback with the sixth overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, one expert is offering a different path.

ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. believes the Giants should rally around current quarterback Daniel Jones and surround him with more weapons.

“I’m a Daniel Jones fan and I think you get a big-time receiver,” Kiper told Field Yates on ESPN’s First Draft, adding that he views Jones’ ceiling as higher than J.J. McCarthy’s.

“You’re getting a guy who certainly could be, you can make a strong argument, he could go a little higher than this with the Chargers being a possibility there. You mention Marvin Harrison Jr., you think Malik Nabers is right there, I think Rome Odunze is very close. I’m a big Rome Odunze fan coming out of Washington.”

Many naturally disagree. Jones has been oft-injured and inconsistent. If a viable replacement — especially one seen as an upgrade — to Jones is available to the Giants, they may not have a choice but to take it.

Kiper doesn’t think Jones is the Giants’ issue and cites their other roster shortcomings, which led him to double down on adding weapons in the draft.

“I get it, there’s an offensive line issue there as well. But the wide receiver position for Daniel Jones, they get a guy like Odunze. To me, that’s where I would go, that’s my pick here is Odunze for the New York Giants,” Kiper said.

“He has the size (6’3″ 215), he has the ability with that catch radius to out-dual cornerbacks for the football, he’s so smooth, he’s so deceptive with how he runs his routes, he’s very difficult to handle in those situations. You go to the national championship game, he was open, Michael Penix Jr. wasn’t able to get him the ball. Look at the consistency in terms of week in and week out.”

Kiper believes Odunze could raise Jones’ level of play and get the Giants back on the path they deviated from last year. That is, if Jones can stay healthy. That is a huge if.

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New York Giants open to drafting QB if right situation presents itself

The New York Giants could be facing the ‘perfect storm’ this spring when it comes to shifting gears at quarterback.

They hold the sixth overall selection in the 2024 NFL draft — which consists of several potential franchise quarterbacks. Their own starter, Daniel Jones, is coming off a season that saw him re-injure his neck and suffer a season-ending ACL tear, and they need to upgrade their quarterback room from top to bottom.

ESPN’s Jordan Raanan believes the Giants will ‘pull the trigger’ on a quarterback in the draft if the right one — and the right situation — is available to them.

“I’ve been told by multiple sources that the Giants, if the situation presents itself correctly, would be at least seriously willing to look at the quarterback position,” Raanan said.

Many experts believe that only three quarterbacks are worthy of being taken with a top-6 pick: USC’s Caleb Williams, Drake Maye of North Carolina, and LSU’s Jayden Daniels.

If one of those players is still on the board, the Giants would be foolish not to either a) take the player themselves or b) deal the pick for a package of players and draft capital.

Taking a non-quarterback or not maximizing the pick’s value would be the worst thing the Giants could do with this selection.

The Giants are not one or two players away from contention. They are a 6-11 team that owns the worst record in the NFC over the past decade and are still in free fall.

The team got off to a roaring start in 2022 under head coach Brian Daboll, winning seven of their first nine games. But the reality is, the Giants have struggled since, posting a record of 9-17-1 (including playoffs).

The future can’t get here fast enough for Giant fans. They’ve seen enough of Daniel Jones — who the Giants can sever ties with after this season — and it’s time to move on.

General manager Joe Schoen and Daboll likely do not want to be tied to Jones any longer. He has not shown that he can lead the team to victory consistently and has not been able to beat the Giants’ two main NFC East rivals — Dallas and Philadelphia. Jones is 3-10 in his starts versus those two teams in his career.

By selecting one of those stud quarterbacks in this draft resets both Schoen and Daboll’s clock and the direction of the franchise in one fell swoop.



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