Daniel Jones might be the scapegoat for all of New York’s problems, but is he really? We think so.
To start the 2024 NFL Season, the New York Giants have gone 1-3, giving their fans little reason to be excited about what is to come. With Daniel Jones struggling at quarterback and poor performances all over the field during the first four weeks, there are many questions about Jones and the Giants organization, specifically on whether he is the long-term answer at quarterback.
Daniel Jones started his career as the sixth-overall pick by the Giants in the 2019 NFL Draft. Being drafted early immediately places immense pressure to prove oneself on any player at any position, especially quarterback, with the position being expected to be the leader of their team. Jones was not alone in the early rounds of the draft, being drafted alongside Kyler Murray to the Arizona Cardinals with the first-overall pick, and Drew Lock to the Denver Broncos with the 42nd-overall pick.
To start his career, Jones led the Giants to a 3-9 record. He threw for 3,027 yards, 24 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, and completed 61.9% of his passes. On the other hand, Murray, who led the Cardinals to a record of 5-10-1, was outplayed by Jones statistically. Murray threw for 695 more yards than Jones, but four fewer touchdowns, and the same amount of interceptions. He also rushed for 265 more yards and two more touchdowns than Jones. Lock didn’t get the same chance to prove himself in his rookie season, only playing in five games.
In the second season for the quarterbacks, there were some ups and downs. Kyler Murray increased his output, throwing for six more touchdowns, as well as rushing for seven more touchdowns. Jones’ season was not so positive, falling in almost every statistical category. Jones threw for 13 fewer touchdowns, as well as rushing for one less touchdown. However, he was able to improve his rushing yards by 144 yards. The only positive is that Jones threw for two fewer interceptions that season. Jones was even outplayed by Drew Lock in Lock’s first season as a starter. Lock threw for 2,933 yards, 16 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions, and rushed for three touchdowns. Jones only outcompeted Lock in completion percentage, by five percent, and rushing yards, by 263 yards.
Throughout the next few years of Jones’ career, he flashed some talent but ultimately struggled to find sustained success. During that same time period, Kyler Murray secured his role as a starter for the Cardinals and cemented himself into one of the more reliable quarterbacks in today’s NFL, despite some poor overall team performances. Jones did have one positive year in 2022, leading the Giants to the divisional round of the playoffs, but he has been battling other quarterbacks to keep his starting job for the majority of that time. While Drew Lock did not perform well after his first starting season, yet performing better than Daniel Jones, there was some surprise and disappointment to his getting benched for veteran quarterback Teddy Bridgewater in 2021. Lock has had multiple opportunities to play over the past few seasons for the Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks.
Jones had even earned a four-year, $160 million contract extension after his breakout 2022 season came to an end.
Daniel Jones and Kyler Murray have played for some poor teams, as well as some good, both leading their teams to 38 losses and one tie in their time as starters, and Murray has only won six more games. However, Murray has also thrown for 3,170 more yards, 33 more touchdowns, and rushed for 628 more yards, and 13 more touchdowns. The only statistic that Jones has done better than Murray is interceptions with five fewer.
WHY JONES WAS PAID THE BIG BUCKS: The Quarterback Market Has Blown Up. How’d It Happen?
Jones is not the best quarterback of his draft class, possibly being worse at times than Drew Lock who has not been a starter in a few years. But Jones has proved himself to be better than Lock during this past offseason, when Lock was signed in free agency by the Giants and earned himself a backup role behind Jones.
Experts not only agree that Jones is not the best of his draft class, but that he is one of the worst overall starting quarterbacks in the league. Among the rankings on NFL.com for the starting quarterbacks of the 2023 season, Jones was placed at 29th of 32. Then, being ranked among all starting quarterbacks from the 2023 season on NFL.com, including the other Giants quarterbacks, Jones was ranked 46th of 66. That is behind both of the other Giants quarterbacks, Tyrod Taylor and Tommy DeVito. PFF made preseason rankings for all projected starting quarterbacks for the 2024 NFL season, placing them in seven tiers, and they placed Jones at 29th of 32 within the seventh and final tier titled: “The Holdovers.” Lastly, every offseason, members of The Athletic gather various NFL coaches and executives to rank NFL quarterbacks into five tiers. Jones was ranked into tier four, which was defined by Mike Sando with the Athletic as a “quarterback [who] could be an unproven player (not enough information for voters to classify) or a veteran who ideally would not start all 17 games.”
So far in the 2024 NFL season, Daniel Jones has been inconsistent. In Week 1, Jones and the Giants were blown out by the Minnesota Vikings, losing 28-6. In that game, Jones threw two interceptions, one of which was returned for six points. After this disappointing performance, he became subject to multiple reports about his lack of success since signing his massive four-year contract, more specifically that he had thrown a total of two touchdowns to his teammates, and three total pick sixes.
In Week 2 of this season against the Washington Commanders, Jones was able to find some success and turn away some of the negative reports. While the Giants lost the game, Jones threw for two touchdowns and no interceptions, which is the perfect way to respond to reports about not being able to throw touchdowns to his team.
Then in Week 3, Jones improved even more, throwing for 236 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and completing 70.6% of his passes, which was his best performance since the 2022 Wild Card Round of the playoffs.
In Week 4, Jones and the Giants lost to the Cowboys 20-15, and all 15 points were scored on field goals. Jones made some good plays in the backfield as he was running from defensive linemen, but he was unable to find his receivers when it mattered most. He then threw the ball up one last time with only a few seconds left on the clock which resulted in an interception. He completed 72.5% of his passes for 281 yards.
The blame for the Giants organization’s lack of success cannot be entirely directed away from Daniel Jones for his performance throughout his career, but there are multiple correlations to the lack of success for the Giants. One of those possibilities is coaching. Jones has played for three total head coaches and coaching staffs, beginning with Pat Shurmur who drafted Jones, Joe Judge, and now Brian Daboll. The only issue with this position is that these coaches were not able to work with any starting quarterbacks other than Jones, except for Shermur, who only got the chance to coach aging and soon-to-retire Eli Manning.
Another possibility for Jones’ lack of success might be the lack of support he has had on the field. Ever since Jones started in the league in 2019, he has never had a Pro Bowler at receiver. He has had two Pro Bowlers in tight end Evan Engram and running back Saquon Barkley, but Engram has struggled to be consistent outside of his 2020 Pro Bowl season. Jones has also lacked support on the offensive line. Their offensive line is currently ranked 28th so far this season. They are also heavily leaning on 6th overall pick wide receiver Malik Nabers in the passing game, who has received 43.8% of Jones’ passing yards and three of four of Jones’ touchdown passes.
Daniel Jones has proved that he is unable to win games against competent opponents. Unless Jones starts winning games for the Giants over the next few weeks, it would be no surprise if Drew Lock took over as the starting quarterback. The upcoming offseason may be impactful for the Giants’ franchise if they choose to find a replacement for their quarterback.
