The New York Giants finally bit the bullet and benched quarterback Daniel Jones. Big Blue, at 2-8, are essentially punting on the season and will start backup Tommy DeVito.
It’s been a clunker of a season for Jones, whom the Giants selected out of Duke with the No. 6 pick in 2019. He has eight touchdown passes, but also seven interceptions and just 2,070 yards. In New York’s most recent game, against the lowly Carolina Panthers in Munich, Jones completed 22 of 37 passes for 190 yards, two INTs and had a rushing touchdown in a 20-17 overtime loss.
It doesn’t matter that Jones is coming off of a torn ACL suffered last season. The Giants aren’t getting better with him under center, and they certainly can’t get any worse with DeVito taking the snaps.
Worse yet, Jones signed a four-year, $160 million deal ahead of last season after the Giants overachieved to a playoff berth in 2022. Even though he can be cut without much issue this offseason, he was still grossly overpaid and everyone knows it.
Unfortunately for the Giants, and every other NFL team for that matter, Daniel Jones’ benching should be the first sign of a bigger problem. A leaguewide one that was well on its way and became official with Jones’ extension:
The quarterback middle class is no more.
For both older and younger readers alike, let’s go back 20 years and look at the NFL QB food chain. Up top, you had your absolute greats like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. Brett Favre and Drew Brees would also be part of this group, and there’s even an argument for Kurt Warner.
Enter the QB middle class, headlined for years by your Eli Mannings (Accept it, Giants fans, he lucked into both Super Bowls and everyone knows it), your Donovan McNabbs, and a scattering of random names from Trent Green to Carson Palmer.
And lower on down, you had the busts. College QBs like Joey Harrington, Byron Leftwich, and Matt Leinart who starred in school but just couldn’t cut it as pros. Be it lack of talent or poor coaching, they just didn’t make it and could only hope to stick around long enough to back up one of the middle class QBs.
Those days are all but officially gone. Quarterbacks are either paid big or they aren’t. The closest we have to the QB middle class are aging guys like the Rams’ Matthew Stafford or sudden revival arms like Baker Mayfield in Tampa Bay or Sam Darnold in Minnesota. Except Stafford won a Super Bowl two years ago, Mayfield has a $100 million contract, and Darnold is likely just a transitional QB until J.J. McCarthy recovers by next season.
Meanwhile, Brock Purdy is earning less than $1 million in San Francisco a year after losing the Super Bowl, but Geno Smith landed a $75 million deal with $40 million guaranteed after overachieving in Seattle.
So where does this leave the Giants? Do they try and trade for someone in the offseason? Will they tank for someone like Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward they can draft in the spring? Or will they tank again in 2025 in hopes of drafting Arch Manning?
Most important of all, will coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen still be with the team?
One thing is certain. Whatever the New York Giants’ plans for the future are, Daniel Jones is not in them.
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