The overall play at the position, whether it’s Jones or Drew Lock, has to be better than in 2024. Doesn’t it?
“This is the year for Daniel.”
That was New York Giants GM Joe Schoen on ‘Hard Knocks’ saying that 2024 was — once and for all — the season for Daniel Jones to show the organization whether or not he is the quarterback they can go forward with. Or, to use Schoen’s word, do they need to “pivot”?
Quarterback is the most important position in football. The Giants won’t get where they want to go unless they get it right.
Key additions: Drew Lock
Key losses: Tyrod Taylor
Why the Giants might be better
Jones was bad in 2023. Atrocious might be a better word. The Giants needed him to be better than he was, to rise above the disaster around him. He couldn’t. Few quarterbacks could have.
Only Justin Fields of the Chicago Bears (48.8%) was pressured more often on dropbacks than Jones (45.5%). Jones was sacked 15.8% of the time. Tommy DeVito was sacked 17.2% of the time, but the general belief is that DeVito created many of the 37 sacks he took by holding the ball too long. Pro Football Focus metrics would disagree with that, showing Jones with some responsibility for 20% of his sacks and DeVito with some responsibility for 11.1%.
Do with those numbers whatever you wish.
Tyrod Taylor was sacked on 8.6% of dropbacks.
Call it excuse-making, but star left tackle Andrew Thomas missed four of the first five games, and star running back Saquon Barkley three of those first five. All were among the six games Jones started in 2023. Wan’Dale Robinson, who led the team with 60 receptions, did not play until Week 3.
Jones is coming off a torn ACL, but throughout the offseason has appeared on track to begin the season. There has been a noticeable edge to Jones in interactions with the media, one that hasn’t been present previously.
“Daniel Jones is like a man on a mission this year,” Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated told the ‘Valentine’s Views’ podcast. “Just this laser focus mentality. People have never seen him like this before.”
Jones is again in a prove-it year. It is crystal clear. Jones needs to stay healthy and play better than he ever has, or the Giants will move on. The last time Jones was in a prove-it season was 2022, the first year of the Schoen-Brian Daboll regime. Jones responded to Schoen not picking up his fifth-year option and seeming ready to move on at quarterback by having the best year of his career and landing a new contract.
Perhaps he will respond similarly this time.
If Jones stays healthy, plays with the edge he has shown, and reverts to 2022 form that means the quarterback play will be far better than what the Giants had a year ago.
If Jones doesn’t, the Giants might move on from him in-season. If Jones isn’t playing well or the Giants fall out of contention early and it becomes obvious Jones won’t be the quarterback in 2025 Drew Lock will take the reigns.
Either way, the offensive line play has to be better. It is unfathomable that it wouldn’t be. That should improve the quarterback’s play, or at least the chance for the quarterback to play well. The receiver play should be better, creating more plays and making the quarterback and the offense look better.
Why the Giants might be worse
Maybe Jones has been battered to the point where 2023 Jones is what he is now. Maybe Lock is still the guy who failed to hold or win jobs with the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks. Maybe DeVito, should he have to play, shows that the magic is gone and he is the middling college quarterback who went undrafted.
Roster projection
Locks: Daniel Jones, Drew Lock
On the bubble: Tommy DeVito
Long shots: Nathan Rourke
When the Giants signed Rourke, I thought he might be legitimate competition for DeVito. After a spring during which Rourke took a limited number of snaps and did not show a lot I’m not sure.
For me, the question is whether the Giants keep two quarterbacks on the 53-man roster and try to slide DeVito to the practice squad, or keep three. I think they will keep two, taking advantage of the new NFL rule allowing a third quarterback to be activated on game day as an emergency quarterback an unlimited number of times.