Is the era of Daniel Jones over? The Giants are preparing to weigh the pros and cons moving forward

When the New York Giants signed Daniel Jones to a four-year, $160 million deal this offseason, it was supposed to end any talk about the team’s future at the quarterback position. Jones was the future.

Not anymore. The topic is wide open again with the Giants’ season sliding off the rails as they enter Week 10 at 2-7 and rushing for a top-5 draft pick. In fact, according to prospect Austin Mock, the Giants have the best odds of securing the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Compounding the issue is Jones being out for the season after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in Sunday’s 30-6 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. With Jones out and the Giants likely heading toward a draft pick that could earn them a coveted quarterback prospect, the debate over the future of the position has taken on new life.

How the Giants finish the season will largely determine their options, but until then, we break down the pros and cons of keeping Jones.

Doesn’t he deserve another shot?

In January 2022, after Joe Schoen was hired as the team’s new general manager, co-owner John Mara would not speak about Jones’ tenure with the team. “We did everything we could to ruin this child.”

He’s not wrong. A book could probably be written on the subject, but suffice it to say during his five years since becoming the No. 6 pick in the 2019 draft, Jones has played under three head coaches and four offensive coordinators while having limited weapons and playing behind the wheel. Usually suspected up front.

Simply put, Jones didn’t get a fair shake. Giants ownership knew it then and knows it now.

When they (literally) signed Jones to an extension, it was with the hope that he would be the team’s starting quarterback for the duration of the deal. In fact, before the contract extension was finalized this spring, Mara spoke with Jones, stressing how much they wanted him to stay in New York. Mara also stressed that under NFL Coach of the Year Brian Daboll, the team will finally be able to provide him with the continuity he never enjoyed during his first four seasons.

They added weapons and tried to upgrade the offensive line.

Unfortunately for Jones and the Giants, Year 5 of his career was a disaster. The offensive line was a mess from the start, with Jones being sacked 28 times in the first five games, the last of which resulted in a major neck injury that forced him to miss three games. Then, in the game back from that injury, he tore his ACL.

Since he only played in six games after signing the extension, there’s at least some merit to the idea that he deserves another chance to prove he can take this franchise where it wants to go. His supporting cast should be better too, with the Giants spending their top pick on a difference-maker (Marvin Harrison Jr.?) or trading back to a QB-needy team for a treasure trove of picks that Schoen can use to surround Jones. With more talent.

Favorite dressing room

Jones is loved by his teammates. They sing his praises, highlighting his toughness — they love that he will always fight for more yards — responsibility and leadership. They respect him and he shows them the same respect.

Needless to say, the locker room was devastated by the news of Jones’ latest injury.

“For him to come back from what he was just coming from, and to get that injury today, I can’t think of a worst-case scenario for a guy,” left guard Justin Pugh said after Sunday’s game. “This is just devastating. I’m hurt for him. He’s a guy you respect and you know he puts everything in the game. It just hurts.”

One of Jones’ biggest supporters, wide receiver Darius Slayton, was asked about the idea of ​​the Giants trading away the quarterback.

“You can’t control what people say,” Slayton said. “Quite frankly, people have been trying to get me, him and a lot of others out of here for as long as we’ve been here. That didn’t stop us before, and it won’t stop us now. And like I said before, he’s a resilient human being. He’s a good football player, and at the end of the day, he’ll come back healthy.” Good again one day and he’ll be back playing professional football somewhere, hopefully here, and I’m looking forward to that day.

The astringent gene

There haven’t been many opportunities in his career, but Jones has risen to the occasion in big moments for the franchise. He also didn’t give in to the pressure of having to play for his job last season. Remember, the Giants opted out of Jones’ fifth-year option prior to last year, making 2022 a full-season trial.

Jones responded by leading the Giants to their first playoff appearance since 2016 and their first playoff win in 11 years. In that wild win over the Minnesota Vikings in January, Jones played perhaps his best game, becoming the first quarterback in league postseason history with more than 300 receiving yards (301 yards on 24-of-35 passing), two passing touchdowns and more than 70 passing touchdowns. Yards (78). Although things didn’t go well the following week in Philadelphia, there’s no doubt that his performance against the Vikings was a big reason the Giants decided to extend his season.

Cons of keeping Jones

Injury history and overwhelming production

One of the most unfortunate aspects of Jones’ career in New York is his lack of durability due to numerous injuries. He missed games in his first season with a sprained ankle, and suffered hamstring injuries the following season. In 2021, he dealt with a season-ending neck injury before appearing in all but one game last year when the Giants rested their starters.

But this season, the injury pattern has resurfaced with a neck injury and now a torn ACL. While Jones has been praised for his toughness, he takes more hits than most quarterbacks. Since entering the league in 2019, Jones has had 415 dropbacks, according to TruMedia. That’s more than any other quarterback except Russell Wilson (481), Kirk Cousins ​​(467) and Matt Ryan (458).

Jones will only be 27 years old next season, but given his lack of durability, there’s no reason to believe he’ll have any better luck staying on the field as he gets older.

The other aspect to consider is that even when Jones was healthy, his production was largely disappointing. There’s no doubt he showed improvements last season, but over the course of his career, Jones’ numbers don’t add up to him being a franchise quarterback.

Financial impact

This is pretty obvious, but it needs to be mentioned. Drafting a rookie quarterback resets the clock when the Giants have to spend a small fortune at the position. They get four years of a cheap rookie quarterback and then, hopefully, a fifth year that is more expensive but still much cheaper than what Jones makes.

Schoen and company can use those savings to upgrade a roster that still has a lot of holes.

Now, there’s no real way for the Giants to get out of a Jones deal until after the 2024 season. They would receive about $69 million in dead money if they cut him before next season, and now that he’s out with a torn ACL, he’s not a desirable trade asset. In it right.

So, in all likelihood, they will keep him alongside their draft pick. However, getting out of a Jones deal becomes much easier after 2024. The Giants could save $19.4 million in salary cap savings while eating $22.2 million in dead money if they cut him then. At that point, Schoen could really focus on building a competitive roster around the team’s new QB.

Write their own story

Worth Schoen and Daboll Jones. He’s not “their guy.” Now, they were part of the mental trust that opted to extend Jones’ tenure last season, but they also made the decision to give themselves an exit after two seasons. It’s also worth noting that the Giants were not in a position to draft a top QB in the 2023 draft after making the playoffs.

Things could be different now.

Schoen and Daboll – assuming they remain at the helm – could be in a position to select and draft their own midfielder. And we all know what Daboll did with that opportunity in Buffalo with Josh Allen.

That’s really what it’s all about: the tantalizing prospect of selecting a top quarterback. USC’s Caleb Williams and North Carolina’s Drake May have received rave reviews as the top two quarterback prospects who could be available in the draft. If the Giants have the opportunity to pick one of them, the opportunity might be too good to pass up.

And if that’s the case, Jones’ days as the Giants’ franchise QB will officially be over.

(Photo: Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

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