Daniel Jones confident he's best option for Giants at quarterback
Daniel Jones of the Giants throws a pass during the second quarter against the Cowboys at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 10, 2023. Credit: Jim McIsaac
As the Giants began the first phase of their voluntary workout program on Monday, Daniel Jones was in the building.
Of course he was.
Jones is always there.
And by the sound of his media availability via Zoom on Monday, Jones doesn’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon.
Presuming he’s healthy — he is coming off a season in which he tore an ACL and was on the injury report with the second neck issue of his career — Jones was asked if he believes he is the best quarterback the Giants could have to start their 2024 season.
“I do, yes,” he said.
Then he smiled like the Cheshire cat.
Jones, 26, surely is aware that the Giants have spent ample time evaluating the quarterbacks in this 2024 draft class. It’s not a surprise, either, after he played in only six games last season.
He would rather look ahead.
“The plan is to be ready to go by training camp,” said Jones, who is in the second year of a four-year, $160 million contract. “That’s what I’m shooting for, and I feel good about being ready.”
The Giants have scouted every available quarterback in next week’s NFL Draft and have at least entertained the idea that they could pick one. Jones’ current backups are the recently signed Drew Lock and Tommy DeVito.
But Jones’ focus in recent months mostly has been on himself and his progress.
Coach Brian Daboll said Monday: “He’s doing everything we need him to do, hitting it head on and making strides.”
Jones said his recent rehab has been solely on his leg and has had nothing to do with the neck injury he suffered last season.
But Jones on Monday not only said his neck is “100% healthy” but that the actual injury was “a stinger-type injury that’s pretty common in football. That’s calmed down and I feel good.”
General manager Joe Schoen said at the NFL Combine that the hope is that Jones can participate in drills this spring.
“Yeah, I want to do as much as they’ll let me do,” he said. “That’s the goal. I want to be smart and not do anything I can’t do, [but] that’s my goal, to be involved and participate in some of those drills here in the spring. Been a good process. I’ve come along well and luckily no setbacks.”
Jones has a career record of 22-36-1. He went 8-14 without his buddy Saquon Barkley, who signed with the Eagles in free agency.
Jones said he is thrilled that offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, who interviewed elsewhere, stayed with the Giants. It remains to be seen who will call the plays this season — Daboll could choose to do so — but Kafka said he “loves working with Dabs.”
He also has the quarterback’s back.
“Listen, Daniel is a tough kid, and I know he’s going through all his rehab right now and attacking that thing,” Kafka said. “It’s been cool. I see him in here every single day working his butt off to get right.
“[But] when you talk about one specific person on offense, it’s never about just one specific person. It’s an 11-man operation. You’ve got to take into account everyone’s ability and where everyone is at, and then you try to build an offense around all the players and playmakers that you have. That’s what we’re doing right now.”
With an eye, of course, on being better, and healthier, this season.
Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.
