Daniel Jones has no option left with Giants but to win
Daniel Jones of the Giants calls a play in the third quarter against the Raiders at MetLife Stadium on Nov. 7, 2021. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Daniel Jones has thus far impressed his new coaches with many of the same traits that previous regimes have appreciated. He works hard, shows good leadership skills, knows the plays, and has promising athletic ability.
“I really enjoy working with him right now,” offensive coordinator Mike Kafka said on Thursday in his first public comments since taking the job with the Giants. “Those are all things that I had heard about him but being able to see it in person has been great.”
It’s everything you’d want from a franchise quarterback.
Well, almost.
The one thing that has so far eluded Jones in his NFL career is now, he understands, the only thing that can prolong his tenure with the Giants beyond this season. With the team having declined the fifth-year option on his rookie contract and him now playing on the final year of that deal, the time for lauding intangibles has elapsed.
If he wants to be a Giant in 2023 and beyond, he needs to win in 2022. Danny Dimes will have to become Danny Dubs.
How many games? That’s hard to say. Certainly more than the four victories he has averaged through his first three seasons. Jones has won 12 games as a starting quarterback in his career. Kafka’s old team in Kansas City won 12 games last season; head coach Brian Daboll’s old team in Buffalo won 11.
Those teams, of course, had Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen at quarterback. This year, Jones will be getting their playbooks and their coaching. It’ll be up to him to deliver the results.
As he does with most matters, Jones shrugged off the idea of this make-or-break season.
“It was certainly out of my control and out of my hands and that’s the business part of it,” he said in his first comments since the Giants declined the $22 million option in late April. “I understand that…. It kind of is what it is.”
But he also admitted that his suddenly murky existence with the Giants is something he does think about. It seems like just yesterday he was the team’s quarterback of the future. Now he’s a quarterback without a clearly defined one.
“I think it’s natural to think about it a little bit,” he said. “But I think you’re better off focusing on what you are doing now and preparing as well as you can now, taking advantage of every day to prepare. We’re in an important part of the offseason right now, staring up our OTA practices. They’re valuable opportunities you can’t afford to miss out on. That’s what I’m focused on and where we’re going.”
The Giants still have faith in Jones despite the contractual diss. They did not draft a quarterback in April, they have not added veterans to compete with Jones for the starting job (backup Tyrod Taylor has been clearly labeled the team’s number two option). They have already done the calculations on what it would take to bring Jones back in 2023, starting with a likely franchise tag that would be around $30 million in guaranteed money.
To get to that point, though, Jones needs a strong 2022 campaign. And not just one in which he flexes the already proven muscles he’s shown his whole career, the whole coming in early and staying late routine that charms coaches and executives.
Said Jones: “It’s more about winning games and knowing that if we win games and we have a good season, that should take care of a lot of things for everyone.”
NOTES & QUOTES: Daboll isn’t easing the players into their new systems. He’s throwing the whole playbook at them. “I tell the players: The train is not slowing down, we're just speeding up,” he said. “The more we can install and the more they can learn, the more we can figure out what they do better… I believe in putting as much pressure as we can on the players during this time. If they go out there and mess up a play, it's May right now. It's May 19th. We learn from it and we keep growing and getting better.” That philosophy won’t last forever, though. “It’s a lot different than when you're getting ready to play in September” … LB Azeez Ojulari said he has added about 10 pounds this offseason, from 245 to 255, to help give him added weight against NFL offensive linemen. “As a rusher, you've got to have some type of power with you when you rush,” he said. “You can't just always go speed. These tackles today are so athletic and good you've got to switch it up a little bit” … The Giants continue to shuffle in new veteran defensive backs on their roster, adding Michael Jacquet and waiving DT Antonio Valentino on Thursday.
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.
