'Big year' for Daniel Jones and the Giants in young QB's third season
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones gestures during training camp at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Thursday. Credit: Brad Penner
Daniel Jones won’t play in Saturday’s preseason game, but he will have a role in the festivities surrounding it.
Once the contest ends he’ll almost certainly trot out onto the field and shake hands with Jets counterpart Zach Wilson, the New York football equivalent of a political photo opp. What will make the encounter interesting is that for the first time in his career Jones will be the elder statesman in the summit of local quarterbacks upon whose shoulders the hopes of the two franchises and two fanbases who share the stadium are riding. Jones may even offer the kid a word or two of advice or encouragement, the kind of message he has often received after facing other more established opponents throughout most of his career.
But just because Jones will have seniority on Saturday does not mean he has arrived as an NFL quarterback. He’s only in the awkward adolescence of his career, a tweener who certainly isn’t a rookie like Wilson but also has not quite proven himself as a future franchise quarterback who can lift a moribund team to the playoffs like Josh Allen and Baker Mayfield, who came into the league just a year ahead of him, have done with the Bills and Browns, respectively.
That’s why Giants general manager Dave Gettleman had no qualms doing what he said was "stating the obvious" in an interview on SiriusXM’s NFL Radio this week, noting that 2021 will be "an important year for Daniel and an important year for us."
It’s his third season in the NFL, his second in the same offensive system. The Giants have surrounded Jones with an influx of talented offensive pieces and kept some of his most reliable ones from previous seasons. There is no competition, no controversy, and, for the Giants this year, really no alternative.
It’s Jones or bust.
"This is a big year, for all of us," Jones said on Thursday. "You play in the NFL and you are expected to perform and perform well. Every year is a big year."
This one, though, feels like it could impact the direction of the Giants for the foreseeable future. The coaches and front office are convinced that Jones will blossom into the player they have envisioned him becoming since they drafted him with the sixth overall pick in 2019. Maybe he will.
Jones seems confident despite some rocky play so far this training camp. He said the conversations and installation regarding the offense is "at a much higher level" this year than it was last year when everything was new. While there have been moments of beauty, they’ve been overshadowed by a number of mishaps and errors, interceptions and poor decisions (including one awful pick captured on fan video from Wednesday’s Fan Fest that had him trending for all the wrong reasons). It hasn’t been a lack of ability that has so far held Jones back in the NFL, it’s been the frustratingly high number of such bad plays that have marked his career.
Mayfield and Allen outgrew those in their third year. Jones will have to do so too if he is going to take just as big a stride as they did, as big a step forward as the Giants expect from him.
"There’s certainly stuff to learn from those guys and people who have had success in their careers," Jones said. "I’m focusing on improving myself and making sure I’m in position to play well."
If he can’t? Then next year’s preseason game between the Giants and Jets could end with a quarterback handshake between Wilson and someone else.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
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