When is the right time for Daniel Jones to get his first hit of the season?
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones drops back to pass during training camp at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, N.J., on Sunday. Credit: Brad Penner
Physicality has been the defining characteristic of Giants training camp this summer, but there is one very important person who has been able to avoid that. For now, at least.
Joe Judge said on Tuesday night that he has toyed with the idea of taking the red non-contact jersey off Daniel Jones – and presumably the three other quarterbacks on the roster – so they can absorb a few licks prior to the start of the regular season.
“With quarterbacks you want to be calculated in how you start banging them around,” Judge said. “I don’t think we’re going to throw [Jones] in any Royal Rumbles or anything like that. But at some point we’ll pop his pads a little bit in a controlled environment.”
While there has never been a quarterback in NFL history who liked to get hit, many do welcome the first collision that typically comes in a preseason game. Eli Manning often talked about getting the first knock of the season out of the way during those exhibition games. It wasn’t something he relished, bit it was something he felt he needed.
Jones does not have those preseason games to “enjoy” those hits this year, even if he could probably use them before he faces the Steelers on Sept. 14.
“I’m not in a hurry to go ahead and just beat the hell out of him,” Judge said. “But at some point we’ll prepare his body before he gets hit in the first game.”
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.
