The most important thing for the New York Giants at this point in the season, with the team likely eliminated from the playoff race and left to play for pride and draft position going into the second half with two wins, is possibly the development of Daniel Jones. The team’s rookie quarterback has taken over for Eli Manning after being drafted number six overall, and that’s a job that comes with great expectations.
It’s a lot for any player, but according to one prominent former Giant, the rookie is on course in terms of progress. This former player happens to be Phil Simms, who has plenty of experience when it comes to quarterbacking.
“He has definitely lived up to the sixth pick of the draft. I think everyone agrees with that. I don’t hear any dissension from all the people that I’m around in business, work with, behind the scenes. In fact, I hear the opposite. ‘Wow, OK, he looks like the really stable, productive quarterback that is going to stand the test of time too.’ I surely don’t look at him and go, ‘He’s having a good streak here.’ I see him as very capable,” Simms said to ESPN.
Jones hasn’t been the best young quarterback this season, with a number of ups and downs, but Jones also doesn’t have much around him in the way of consistent talent – all of the top offensive names on the Giants have been injured or suspended in some way this season, and the team hasn’t improved very much over the offseason despite coming in with a number of changes.
At least, the team hasn’t improved in the results column, which makes it hard to have much faith in 2019’s updated roster.
But that was the first half of the season, and on Monday night, the Giants will face one of their primary rivals to open up the second half. Will the results improve over the last eight games, and will other players step up around Jones? It doesn’t seem like the likeliest outcome after the first eight games, but we’ll just have to wait for the second half to start to find that out.