After six seasons in the Empire State, Danny Dimes is out—his Broadway debut has officially ended.After six seasons of potential unfulfilled, Danny Dimes’s tenure in New York has come to an end. After demoting Jones to their 4th string quarterback, it was agreed by all parties that releasing him was the better option. The Giants may have closed the door but another team could open it wide for Danny to thrive.
To be a starting quarterback for any team in the NFL brings a huge amount of pressure. However there is no city that brings more pressure than New York. It routinely churns and spits out starting quarterbacks that cant handle the spotlight that comes with representing the city for either the Jets or Giants. However to be the starting quarterback for the Giants adds even more pressure. They are one of the most storied franchises in all of American sports. They have won the 6th most Super Bowls with 4 rings to their name and are one of the oldest having joined the NFL in 1925. The list of quarterbacks to represent the Giants is legendary with heroes like Eli Manning, Phil Simms and Charlie Connerly wearing the royal blue and red. The greatest of those quarterbacks, Eli Manning, was to be replaced by newly drafted Daniel Jones in 2019. For Daniel Jones, being drafted to replace Eli Manning was like being handed the keys to a race car—he had to drive it, and fast.
The pressure on the 22-year-old rookie was immense. He was tasked with filling the shoes of a two-time Super Bowl champion in one of the most demanding sports cities in the world.
Coming into the NFL, Jones’s true potential was fiercely debated. At Duke he was coached by quarterback guru David Cutcliffe and guess who he also coached? You guessed it right, he also coached Eli Manning. Jones had strong football IQ alongside being a good decision maker. His accuracy on intermediate throws in college with Duke was exceptional along with good footwork to set up a strong deep ball ability. He was also a dual threat quarterback as he had 1,323 rushing yards in three seasons along with 17 rushing touchdowns which was unusual for a player of his size, 6 foot 5 and 221 pounds. In addition to this his stats were hampered by a below average offensive line and wide receivers who struggled to get open and even catch the ball but he still managed to have a 82.9 PFF grade in 2018 in college. However he frequently fumbled the ball and attempted impossible throws into tight coverage instead of throwing the ball away. Another issue was that he held onto the ball for too long. All in all however he was deemed as a first to second round potential quarterback.
So you can imagine the sheer shock and surprise when he was drafted with the 6th overall pick. Giants fans were in uproar that someone who some experts deemed a second round pick was drafted so high. ESPN expert Todd McShay stated that he was “disappointed for Giants fans” and that he thought Jones has the potential to be a “backup quarterback”. Giants fans assembled in Metlife stadium watching the draft unfold on the jumbotron began booing when the pick was announced. Talk-show host Skip Bayless reacted to the pick by stating that quarterback Sam Darnold, picked by the Jets the season before, would “be better than Daniel Jones would ever hope to be”. From the very outset, the fans that were meant to be supporting him were dismayed that he was chosen alongside the national media deeming his selection unworthy. Not only did Daniel Jones have to fill Eli Manning’s shoes, now he also had to win over his own fan-base.
Following the draft almost every sports broadcaster or talk-show analyzed the pick with the reaction being almost universally negative. ESPN broadcaster Max Kellerman stated that Daniel Jones “better be a hall of famer one day” in order for this pick to make sense. Colin Cowherd, host of the talk-show “The Herd”, stated that Jones wasn’t even the 6th best player in the ACC, Dukes football division. No other quarterback in the history of the draft had arguably faced this much criticism and skepticism when he was drafted. The negativity was unparalleled. His first season in 2019 with the Giants was rocky as the team struggled massively following Eli Manning’s benching in week 3.
Despite this he showed glimpses of promise including a 5 touchdown performance against the Redskins in week 16 However instead of his overall struggles being rationally attributed to the fact he was in a poor team that was in massive upheaval and that it was his rookie season, he was slammed by both the media and fans for not being good enough. The next season he improved slightly with a improved passing completion percentage from 61.9% to 62.5% but continued to struggle with interceptions as he accumulated 10 picks and the Giants continued to struggle, missing out on the playoffs again.
In 2021 the struggles continued. He missed 6 games due to injury and key offensive players like Barkley and Golladay missed a significant amount of time through injury. Despite this, he recorded a career high completion percentage along with a better contribution as a rusher. However the same issues that plagued him throughout his NFL career continued to follow him such as poor decision making and inconsistency. 2022 would mark his best season in the NFL as following the hiring of Daboll as head coach, the Giants were revititalised and made the playoffs for the first time since Jones took over at quarterback. He achieved a career high 76 PFF grade and finally looked like the future franchise quarterback. He only threw 5 interceptions better than more than half the leagues starting quarterbacks along with the 13th highest quarterback rating in the league and the 6th best completion rate.
In the wild card against the Vikings he also created history, becoming the first player to throw for over 300 yards, 2 touchdowns or more and over 70 yards rushing. Despite loosing the divisional game the following week against the Eagles the expectations were high for Jones heading into the 2023 season. He had signed a 4 year $160 million extension and was expected to guide the Giants to the playoffs again. Unfortunately however the same injury issues that had plagued him before 2022 came back to bite. In week 5 he sustained a neck injury that ruled him out for 3 games. When he came back in week 9 against the Raiders, he injured his knee in the first quarter and was ruled out of the game. The next day it was announced that he had torn his ACL in his right knee. The season was over for Jones and it was a huge step back for both him and the team as the Giants slumped to a 6-11 record.
That brings us to this season. Fresh of his injury the expectations for Jones were sky high just like all of his career in New York. Having drafted Malik Nabers in the draft, one of the most promising wide receivers of recent times, Jones seemingly had his ball magnet. However following a putrid 10-6 loss against New York rivals the Jets in Week 1, Giants fans were brought back down to earth. At the moment the Giants are so bad, even the Mets are looking at them like “You might want to try rebuilding”. So how much of this seasons failure is due to Daniel Jones? Daniel Jones is often the scapegoat for both fans and media but to blame him for the Giants’ failures misses the mark as there are far more factors at play.
The Giants’ offensive line has struggled all season, ranking 8th in the NFL for sacks allowed and 19th for rushing yards per game. Even the best quarterbacks in the NFL struggle in the face of continuous pressure after every snap and Jones has been under pressure 22.2% of the time in passing attempts which is among the highest in the league. Coupled with a struggling run game, it forces Jones to pass more often and under that amount of duress it leads to sacks. That then leads Jones to force the ball downfield in an attempt to avoid a sack which then leads to more turnovers. It also takes away one of his strongest traits which is his decision making as he has not enough time to make the right choice. Other then Malik Nabers, Jones also does not have any reputable pass catchers at his disposal. Tight end Theo Johnson is a rookie who is promising but raw, WR2 Wan’Dale Robinson has never gone over 600 yards receiving in his short career of three seasons,WR3 Darius Slayton has never gone over 1,000 yards in a season in 6 seasons and the rest of his pass catchers are either rookies or are in their second or third season.
The Giants are also the second highest team for dropped passes with 26 drops. To make matters even worse, the Giants are 30th out of 32 teams for SEP which measures the average number of yards a pass catcher gets free from their defensive back. So essentially the Giants pass catchers are hardly getting open along with frequently dropping the ball. Add in a offensive line that is struggling badly to block for both rushing and passing and you have to ask the question of what can Daniel Jones actually do? Worse still, the Giants rank among the worst for YAC (yards after catch), showing their receivers struggle to make plays after the ball is thrown.
Essentially if we look at Daniel Jones’s career at New York we can see he has been dealt a very bad hand. After being drafted 6th overall in 2019, he was expected by the organization to be the successor to the great Eli Manning. In addition to this, the fans were against him from the beginning along with the media criticizing his potential and ability before he even took a snap. He was then expected to take the reigns of an offense that had been 17th in yards per game on offense and had a combined 8 wins in the two seasons before he was drafted and turn it instantly around. In every season with the Giants other than 2022 he has dealt with injury problems that have ruled him out of games including multiple injuries to his neck and a season ending ACL injury.
Throughout this time Giants fans and the media were pinning most of the blame on Jones for the Giants struggling. Videos began circulating of Daniel Jones walking into the stadium by himself being booed by the Giants fans all gathered around him. Granted he has performed poorly for most of his career in New York but that has been the result not cause of a poor Giants team alongside injuries and unfair expectations coupled with little to no support from fans and the media. Daniel Jones has been the real Big Apple in a fruit salad of unfair blame as when it comes to the Giants’ struggles, he’s been the core they’ve kept tossing under the bus.
So where does this leave Jones who is now a free agent? He is still only 27 years which hypothetically means he is entering his prime years. He has shown an ability to lead a team into the playoffs and then preform when needed which is proved by his performance versus the Vikings in the wild card. Although he hasn’t used it as frequently as you would have wanted, he still has an ability to use his legs to create opportunities. According to numerous reports, he is looking to join only a playoff caliber team if he were to join a team for the rest of this season. This leaves him with a few opportunities. The most intriguing is the 49ers. Depending on the severity of Purdy’s injury, Daniel Jones would be an appealing option for the 49ers. He is mobile and relatively accurate quarterback who comes with no risk. For Jones, he would be leading one of the leagues best offenses and coached by the leagues brightest offensive mind, Kyle Shanahan. The 49ers also boast a strong offensive line and run game led by McCaffrey which would reduce the pressure on Jones. However this would be a extremely short term deal as the moment Purdy heals he would be thrust straight back as the starting quarterback which leaves Jones in a unwanted situation as a backup.
According to reports both the Vikings and Ravens are the most likely candidates to sign Jones however, barring an injury, he would be a backup quarterback. The Cowboys would have also been an option but following Cooper Rushes strong performance as starting quarterback in the win over the Commanders that doesn’t look likely. The question surrounding what he will do next off-season is far more interesting in my opinion. There numerous teams looking for a starting quarterback for next season but a lot will depend on the result of the draft. If a team looking for quarterback in the draft is left empty handed, like the Raiders last season, Daniel Jones could be the surprise free-agent gem teams didn’t know they were looking for. Daniel Jones was like the “Shaggy” of the Giants, always getting blamed for everything, but never the real villain. Free agency might just be his “Zoinks!” moment.
Legacy Play 