When the New York Giants drafted Duke quarterback Daniel Jones 6th overall back in 2019, they saw a mobile quarterback with solid arm talent.
Jones had the tangible traits to become a franchise passer, but a lackluster offensive line and poor schematics doomed him from the start. Despite throwing 24 touchdown passes during his rookie season, Jones has been plagued with turnover issues, fumbling the ball 19 times in 2019, 10 times in 2020, and seven times last year.
One of the reasons ownership hired Joe Schoen, and Brian Daboll from the Buffalo Bills was due to their offensive acumen. Having built a successful offense in Buffalo led by quarterback Josh Allen, replicating that in East Rutherford was the catalyst. Co-owner John Mara recently indicated how poor the offense has been over the past few seasons, specifically during Jones’s tenure with Big Blue.
The question is, how will Daboll and new offensive coordinator Mike Kafka utilize Jones this upcoming season?
“He’s athletic, he’s big, he’s strong,’’ Daboll said Tuesday. “I know he’s had some injuries. It’s always a balancing act. And at the end of the day you’ve got to try to use your players the best way you can use them to try to win a game. Sometimes it might not start early in the season like that but as you figure out what you are and what you need to do you can evolve to that.
Jones ran the ball 62 times last year for 298 yards and two touchdowns. Interestingly, he ran the ball 65 times in 2020 for 423 yards and one score. The Giants have heavily utilized him in that way, specifically on zone-read options. Allen, up in Buffalo, tallied 122 rushing attempts for 763 yards and six scores last year. Of course, he’s a bit more agile with the football in his hands and contains power with his style, something that Jones doesn’t exactly feature.
“With Josh, how many quarterback runs did we really run him by design? Probably more a little bit later in the year when it was crunch time. That’s knowing the player, too. Where a guy wants the ball in his hands in the most critical moments of the game and you can count on him to do that. We’ll find out with Daniel, I think he’s got a really good skill set in that regard. How much of it we’ll do, you never know.’’
Listening to Daboll, it is clear that it will take time for coaches to understand what Jones’s strengths really are.
The problem is that the Giants have to decide on Jones’s 5th-year option by May 2, and they may not have enough time to extrapolate on his strengths. One season’s worth of sample size is not much, given Daboll needed three years to bring the best out of Allen.