Even if the New York Giants end up finishing the season with a high draft pick once again, it looks like Daniel Jones has job security at quarterback. Or at least, the Giants organization is confident enough in Jones to publicly declare that he has job security. While the franchise said the same things about Eli Manning before he was replaced, there’s no competitor waiting in the wings to Jones and the Giants will only find one if they draft a quarterback this year.
Joe Judge, too, insists that they already have their man going forward. He already made other statements along those lines this season, but this latest statement puts it in firmer terms and goes more into the reasoning behind the Giants keeping their faith in Jones during a tough year.
What did Judge have to say?
“You always want to know about is Daniel our guy? Are we going forward with Daniel? The answer is absolutely…” Judge told reporters on Monday. “You watch the tape yesterday and you see that guy in there operating, executing, understanding the pressure and not just standing in there with courage like he’s done all along and taken a hit but understanding how to take the hit and deliver an accurate pass and move the sticks down the field.”
Judge went as far as to defend Jones’ play in the loss, where he had 252 yards and one passing touchdown but was sacked six times. The sacks were a major setback in this game and the six times equals the other season high game for Jones, the one against Arizona when he was still partly injured.
“I thought Daniel yesterday played well. There are some plays I’m sure he’d like to have back, some plays we’d like to do differently. That’s natural in any game,” Judge continued. “We’re going to coach it to eliminate those plays on the front end. But at the same time, there was a lot of growth that I saw with Daniel that’s really showed up in terms of how he had to play the game yesterday and what he’s able to do.”
Daniel Jones’ long term future
Jones has indeed grown this season to reduce his turnovers but still has some ways to go to solidify his spot long term. Next season looks like the make or break one for him, because not only will it be his crucial third year, but the Giants should have more talent around him.
Right now, Jones is limited by both a bad offensive playcaller and by a poor offensive line and a group of receivers that has a hard time getting opened. If the Giants can deal with at least two out of three of those factors, we’ll probably get a more accurate look at just what Jones can do next year.
But until that point, don’t be surprised if reporters continue to ask each week if Jones is still the starting quarterback. After falling short of big expectations from the infamous New York press, Jones will be frequently questioned until he either improves further or is out of the franchise.