No quarterback in the NFL has done “more with less” than Daniel Jones this season. The New York Giants signal-caller has led his team to an 8-6-1 record, putting them on the cusp of their first playoff berth since 2016 despite a depleted group of skill position players. Working with minimal talent around him, Jones has led Big Blue to numerous clutch victories in the best season of his career. But should Jones’s 2022 heroics place him in the conversation for league MVP? Jon Benigno of WFAN argues that the New York Giants quarterback absolutely deserves consideration for the NFL’s most prestigious individual award.
Should Daniel Jones receive MVP consideration?
Daniel Jones is having a breakout 2022 season. Jones is playing with an elite level of efficiency. His league-best interception percentage of 1.1% demonstrates Jones’s efficiency this season. Nothing that Daniel Jones is doing is happening in high volume, and that includes the turnovers. He has only thrown 13 touchdown passes (23rd in the NFL) but has also only thrown five picks in 15 games. Daniel Jones is on pace to set career highs in passing yards, completion percentage, and quarterback rating, and he has already smashed his career highs in every major rushing statistic.
Turnovers were once Daniel Jones’s biggest weakness. But now, his ability to keep the ball out of harm’s way is arguably Jones’s biggest strength. Daniel Jones has thrown just five interceptions this season and has lost only three fumbles. The Giants are winning games in large part because of their ability to control the ball and win the turnover battle.
“You tell me a quarterback that has done more with less than Daniel Jones.”
Joe Benigno via WFAN
Daniel Jones is leading the New York Giants to wins, sometimes carrying the offense across the finish line. His receiving corps features a rag-tag group of former backups. Kenny Golladay has been absent, Sterling Shepard and Wan’Dale Robinson are on injured reserve, and Kadarius Toney was traded away mid-season. Each of Daniel Jones’s top-four projected starting receivers entering the 2022 season are out of the lineup. But still, Daniel Jones has made it work and has brought the Giants to the brink of a playoff berth. With a win over the Colts in Week 17, the Giants will clinch for the first time since 2016.
While he may not be putting up historic, league-leading passing numbers like MVP front-runner Patrick Mahomes, Daniel Jones is winning football games. Without Jones, the Giants would not be in the position that they are in now. He has run head coach Brian Daboll’s offense with comfort and precision all season long. Joe Benigno also thinks that Daboll, as a rookie head coach whose team is 8-6-1, should be considered for a Coach of the Year award.
“Brian Daboll’s gotta be Coach of the Year, and Daniel Jones, I know he’s not gonna win the MVP, I get it, but he has to get some consideration for it with the year he’s had,” Joe said.
Joe Beningno via WFAN
After finishing the 2021 season with a 4-13 record, many called Daniel Jones’s future into question. He had failed to establish himself as a franchise quarterback in the third season of his career. The Giants hit the rest button, bringing in new management and a new coaching staff in the 2022 offseason. Joe Schoen and company decided to decline Daniel Jones’s fifth-year option, too. Now, Jones is having a career year as an impending free agent. Considering how valuable he has been for the Giants this year, there is no doubt that New York will be looking to extend Daniel Jones in the 2023 offseason.