Daniel Jones will be the starting quarterback for the New York Giants to begin this upcoming season unless things go horribly wrong during training camp. The former No. 6 overall pick has Drew Lock breathing down his neck, with Tommy DeVito and Nathan Rourke ready to pounce at any opportunity.
Despite how things ultimately played out, there was a lot of chatter that New York might try to draft a replacement for Daniel Jones in the NFL Draft last month.
The 26-year-old dealt with injuries, including a torn ACL, that forced him to miss two thirds of his 2023 campaign. Jones did not play well during his six-game run and threw six interceptions with four fumbles to just two touchdowns, and went 1-5.
His down year came after the Giants offered him a four-year, $160 million contract extension during the offseason as the result of a career year in 2022 that included a playoff win. He got paid, struggled, and injured all in a matter of seven months.
Now, to be fair, it was a small sample size. Some of the interceptions were not Jones’ fault. He completed 67.5% of his passes.
It was still rough.
Daniel Jones is on the hot seat.
Las year’s inefficient play led to a lot of panic in the Big Apple. New York paid Jones a fortune and saw a steep year-over-year decline. His money did not reflect his product.
As a result, there was a lot of chatter about the Giants’ interest in a rookie. This year’s draft class was deep at the quarterback position and next year’s class is (as of now, on paper) weak so it might have made sense to get out in front of the problem and select Jones’ successor if things continue to go poorly. Drake Maye was the name most closely aligned to the organization.
He ended up getting picked by New England at No. 3. New York drafted Jones some help with Malik Nabers at No. 6.
The sixth-year incumbent starter had not addressed all of the speculation about his job coming out of the draft. It was forced upon him on Thursday.
Jones was asked about all of the quarterback talk at OTAs and admitted that he, understandably, wasn’t thrilled. However, he handled the question with grace.
The Giants’ interest in Maye lit a fire under Jones, even if it is hard to read his emotions.
Tick tock! Daniel Jones’ job is on the line if he doesn’t play well this year.
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