The New York Giants made the national news during the 2019 NFL Draft but it wasn’t for a good reason. Rather, it was because they made what will either go down as a genius move in the future, or as one of the worst ones in the entire draft. So far, many think that the latter outcome is the much more likely one. That decision was to draft Duke quarterback Daniel Jones at number six overall, shocking the world.
The move was also widely criticized with most fans believing that the Giants took the wrong player and should have went for a higher rated prospect such as Dwayne Haskins Jr. or Drew Lock, or that the Giants should have waited until later if they wanted to draft Jones. Sometimes, both of those arguments are rolled into one, saying the Giants overdrafted Jones and picked the wrong player.
According to Jones, though, he isn’t paying a lot of attention to that so far.
“I think if you’re looking externally for confidence, then you’re also going to be affected by the negative as well. Just finding confidence in yourself and knowing what you can do as a player, as a person, is kind of the way that works and the best way to think about handling a lot of that stuff,” Jones said on SiriusXM, after stating that he doesn’t pay much attention to the media or takes from the fans.
Those takes will be harder to ignore, however, depending on how Jones performs this preseason and eventually in the regular season if Gettleman’s plan does work out and Jones has a few years to learn before taking the starting role. That plan, however, could be seen as dodgy by some and if Manning doesn’t last three years and Jones is forced to come in earlier, and flops, Giants fans will be ready to riot.
Still, Jones is looking forward to the chance to play behind Manning.
“I think it’s a tremendous opportunity for a young guy to go into a place where there’s a future Hall of Famer who’s done it for a really long time at a really high level and definitely knows what it takes. So that to me is a big advantage in where I am right now. So I’m looking forward to it, just being teammates with him, being able to learn from him in the building every day. I think that’s a special opportunity,” Jones continued.
One can hope that Jones will pick up something from Manning and manage to follow in the current starter’s footsteps while living up to being the number six overall draft pick.
But if you don’t have that confidence, it looks like Jones is doing what might just be the safest option for an NFL quarterback, and tuning that criticism out.