It wouldn’t be the offseason for the New York Giants without some kind of drama and this time it’s coming from Daniel Jones, or rather, the decision for the team to take Jones at number six overall in this year’s draft. It’s safe to say that the decision didn’t come without controversy, mainly because of the high spot at which the Giants took Jones, and even others within the league are skeptical about the decision.
That includes Baker Mayfield, another highly drafted young quarterback who finds himself as the starter for the Cleveland Browns, the team that the Giants traded star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to earlier in the offseason.
“I cannot believe the Giants took Daniel Jones. … Blows my mind. Some people overthink it. That’s where people go wrong. They forget you’ve gotta win,” Mayfield said about the Giants rookie, in his typical controversial fashion.
“There’s people who run their mouths and cry for attention and there’s people who put their head down, get to work and get stuff done. That’s everything Daniel’s been doing,” Evan Engram said on Tuesday in reply, speaking to NJ Advance Media about Mayfield’s comments.
“I see him as a guy that pays the criticism no mind. Personally, I think he hears it and it’s kind of hard to ignore. Especially being in New York with the media being so crazy, but he’s the type of guy who’s real humble, real focused and not really worried about any of that,” Engram said, elaborating further. “Daniel’s real humble. He’s hard working. He learns from his mistakes and he’s getting better each and every day.”
Jones has definitely been able to shrug off criticism so far, after getting booed before even playing a single game when he attended a Yankees game not long after being drafted by the Giants. It didn’t, however, stop him from looking impressive in his debut and throwing touchdowns in both of his two preseason games up to this point.
Ultimately, though, who is right in this battle of words will ultimately come down to regular season play – whether Jones becomes a future star or not will also impact whether Mayfield looks bad or not for making the comments.