For better or worse, Daniel Jones is the current quarterback starter for the New York Giants and there’s no alternative option this season such as Eli Manning.
Jones flashed potential last season as one of the better performing young quarterbacks in the league, but also showed significant problems in some areas such as turnovers. In fact, Jones’ numbers in that category were big enough to stand out for the entire league and not just compared to his Giants teammates. This offseason, however, Jones is working on some training that may aid in fixing that problem.
One of the reasons for the turnovers is that Jones didn’t maximize his athletic potential despite his good size. This season, he may come in stronger than before after focusing on it in the offseason.
“He’s done a good job of putting together a good physique,” said Anthony Boone, another former Duke quarterback who has worked with Jones this offseason and spoke to the New York Post about it.
“At the end of the day he wanted to get stronger and get a little more meat on his bones but still maintain being able to run and move around and being on the field the whole time. Not ‘I’ve put on too much weight and I get short-winded now.’ His thing was make sure he could stay mobile, agile and be out on the field the whole time,” Boone continued.
Jones’ agility was one of his bonuses even when the Giants first drafted him. With declining play on the offensive line, it became less and less viable to start Eli Manning despite Manning’s difficulty escaping the pass rush.
Another advantage from agility is being able to run for first downs. This, however, does have its downsides. One of these is increased turnover risk, which is something that can be reduced by working on strength. After all, a player that can take hits is less likely to drop the ball.
“When he’s out there and he takes his shirt off or he’s wearing a cut-off or wearing whatever, you can tell physically he’s gotten better. He’s taking care of his body, for sure. He really put some work in to make sure he’s a professional athlete and he’s taking care of his body,” Boone assured.
The Giants are resting much of their hopes on Jones this year after a promising rookie season where he threw for 24 touchdowns. That number, and his touchdown to interception ratio, are expected to improve with Jones having a full offseason to adjust to being the starter this year. That luxury combined with physical improvements may just see a big step up for the Giants’ starter during the 2020 season.