The Giants certainly took a chance when they selected QB Daniel Jones out of Duke with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, and the gamble didn’t pay off at all. Daniel Jones was benched by the New York Giants this week after 70 middling starts. He was later relegated to fourth-string quarterback before being released on Friday.
Jones started 70 games for the Giants franchise in his nearly six seasons in the NFL, compiling a 24-45-1 career record as a starting QB for three different head coaches. He was given a long leash to establish himself as a franchise quarterback; however, despite being given a contract extension in 2023, he never really managed to do so.
Draft Profile
Daniel Jones’ NFL draft profile gave him a prospect rating of 6.3 out of 8.0, which indicated that he should be drafted between rounds 1 & 2, but that he was regarded as an “eventual plus starter” and not a Year 1 starter (6.7) nor a Pro Bowl talent (7.0). NFL writer Lance Zierlein listed the following weaknesses in Daniel Jones’ collegiate game, weaknesses that would continue throughout his NFL career to date, “attempts throws into some impossible windows. Showed willingness to throw it up for grabs rather than take sack. Loose ball handling in the face of pressure leads to fumbles.”
Long story short, he was never worthy of being selected with the No. 6 overall pick. Jones’ profile warned that, “[he] is more of a Day 2 than Day 1 draft pick,” while his NFL player comparison was Ryan Tannehill, who was himself a mid-tier starting QB. This is a classic example of what happens when a team reaches for a QB in the draft.
Turnover woes
Turnovers have been Daniel Jones’ Achilles heel, as he has compiled nearly as many turnovers (73) as total touchdowns (85) with an average of 1.04 turnovers per game. For comparison’s sake, Jameis Winston has an average of 1.26 turnovers per contest in his career; however, the reason why Jameis has moderate success in comparison to Jones is that his yards per attempt number (7.7) is higher than Jones’ mark of 5.9.
Some of these turnover woes are attributed to the G-Men having the worst offensive line in the league since 2019, but the quarterback still needs to take care of the ball. He has accumulated more turnovers (73) than starts (70) in his brief career to date. The team gave him ample opportunities to improve this facet of his game, but he was never able to despite the team showing faith in him by extending his contract.
Contract decisions
The Giants organization declined to pick up the fifth-year option on their QB in 2022. This was the correct decision at the time, as Jones had failed to improve upon a solid rookie season in his two years afterwards, throwing for less yards and TDs each year. Jones responded by proving himself in his contract year in 2022, setting career high marks in passing yards (3,205), passing touchdowns (15), & yards per attempt (6.8).
Despite his record and propensity for turnovers, the Giants then decided before the 2023 season that it would be wise to sign Jones to a 4-year, $160M contract extension. Unfortunately, their QB suffered through what was the worst season of his career in 2023 while dealing with an awful neck injury before tearing his ACL after six starts. Fast forward to 2024, and Jones put together yet another ineffective season in which he completed 63.3% of his passes for 2,070 yards, 8 touchdowns, & 7 interceptions. After 10 starts this year, the team’s brass decided that they had seen enough of Jones.
Closing thoughts
The Giants franchise braintrust deserves their share of the blame for Jones’ failure, as they drafted him higher than he ever should have been drafted, cycled through three head coaches during his tenure, and never put him in a position to succeed due to an underwhelming supporting cast & consistently lackluster offensive line. These failures were then compounded when the team signed Jones to the massive contract extension, as the organization didn’t understand the limitations of Jones.
That said, the player should have shown some signs of improvement over 70 starts. His best season to date is still arguably his rookie year in which he completed 61.9% of his passes (6.6 yards per att.) for 3,027 yards, 24 touchdowns, & 12 interceptions. He had a decent year in 2022 that set him up for the contract extension, but outside of that he never managed to shed his label of being a turnover-prone game manager. Most franchises would’ve given up on their QB much earlier, but the Giants showed unwavering faith in their quarterback that would ultimately prove to be misguided.
The Sports Beacon 