Everyone might be eager to see what rookie quarterback and top ten draft pick Daniel Jones brings to the New York Giants, but don’t hold your breath on Jones getting playing time in 2019. Eli Manning was dubbed the team’s starter by most sources going into the season, for better or for worse, and that’s been reaffirmed by the head coach of the team, Pat Shurmur.
According to Shurmur, Manning is definitely the team’s starter going into the season and every other quarterback on the roster is one of the “guys behind him”.
Pat Shurmur, asked if QB is an open competition, says “we have a starter in Eli” and “guys behind him” including Daniel Jones, who will see the majority of work in that backup group. All backup QBs should prepare as if they are getting ready for Week 1. #Giants pic.twitter.com/wg1op9PO4t
— Pat Leonard (@PLeonardNYDN) May 20, 2019
It also looks like Daniel Jones will take on the most work as the team’s top backup quarterback, which is both surprising and not surprising at all. It’s partly surprising because Jones is a rookie and the team’s backups from last season, Alex Tanney and Kyle Lauletta, still remain on the roster. And yet, they’ve already been ruled out of the competition for top backup quarterback.
The decision is less surprising when considering the fact that Jones was picked number six overall and has high expectations. It would be a bad look on the team if a player that a top ten draft pick was spent on didn’t even make the top spot on the bench, and so to an extent, it makes sense that Jones is starting off with an early lead in the race for the number two spot.
Of course, decisions such as this have been reversed before. Sometimes, a player enters the season as a starter before falling out of favor and being replaced by a younger alternative after popular demand forces a change. Even Eli Manning himself didn’t begin his career as the team’s starter.
However, one shouldn’t necessarily expect Jones to make the jump to starter anytime soon. Out of the players that the Giants could have taken in the draft at the quarterback position, it looks like Jones might just have the longest way to go to become a star in the NFL. Having Jones on the bench early on serves to increase the chances that the team’s top draft pick this year will go on to be successful – and not the highly overdrafted bust that many still believe Jones will become.