If the New York Giants look to get back to the playoffs in 2024, they’re going to need their quarterback, Daniel Jones, to step up and give them strong play at the position.
PFF believes the Giants could miss the playoffs due to Daniel Jones
Pro Football Focus’ Gordon McGuinness agrees. In an article listing one reason each NFC team won’t make the playoffs this season, McGuinness’s reason for the Giants was Jones not returning to form this season. He also believes that the Giants are more than just a good quarterback away from Super Bowl contention.
“Getting the former Duke quarterback back to the level of play he showed from 2020 to 2022 is the minimum needed to get them back to the playoffs,” McGuinness wrote. “Even that is unlikely to be enough to take them deep into the postseason, though, with Jones producing a big-time throw on just 3.0% of his pass attempts in his career so far.”
The Giants still have faith in Daniel Jones
The Giants avoided drafting a quarterback in this year’s draft despite heavy speculation that they would do so, meaning that Jones is once again given an opportunity to prove that he can lead this team to success. Outside of the 2022 season that saw New York win their first playoff game since their last Super Bowl victory, the Jones era has not been filled with much success.
Last season, the Giants finished just 6-11 after going 9-7-1 with a playoff appearance the year before. Jones once again dealt with injuries and was forced to be sidelined for the remaining eight weeks of the season after suffering a torn ACL. Prior to the injury, he had struggled on the field, throwing just two touchdowns and six interceptions with a 36.3 quarterback rating in six games played.
On top of that, the Giants lost some key players to better teams in free agency, with running back Saquon Barkley going to the division-rival Philadelphia Eagles and safety Xavier McKinney signing with the Green Bay Packers. Therefore, New York is in a rough position heading into the next season and is shaping up to be one of the worst teams in the NFL once again.
The Giants have been mostly unsuccessful in the Daniel Jones era
Since Week 3 of the 2019 season, the same week that Jones took over the starting quarterback job for the great Eli Manning, the Giants have the fifth-worst record in the NFL at 29-51-1. In that same span, New York has scored the second-fewest touchdowns with just 160. The 2023 season was a painful reminder of what this team has been over the majority of the past several seasons, and unfortunately, there is no indication of a massive turnaround forthcoming.
During Jones’ NFL career, the Giants have had three head coaches, with current head coach Brian Daboll being the longest-tenured (three seasons) in that span. The revolving door of head coaches could play a factor in Jones’ lack of development, but being that he is playing under a four-year, $160 million contract, it is fully on him to show why he deserves such a lucrative deal, or else it will become an albatross.
2024 will be a big season for Jones, and it could determine the rest of his Giants future going forward.