New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones is surrounded by question marks. He was disastrous in Week 1, but bounced back with a solid performance in the Giants’ Week 2 loss, and is now playing with a short leash as an injury guarantee in his contract looms overhead. It’s possible that Jones will get benched at some point this season if he does not start producing wins for the team.
Meanwhile, the Carolina Panthers recently made the abrupt and shocking decision to bench QB Bryce Young, who they selected with the first-overall pick in last year’s draft. Young has had a rough start to his NFL career, making 18 starts with a 2-16 record and an 11-13 TD-INT ratio. Following his benching, there are fans hoping to see Young get a change of scenery in an effort to revive his young career.
Giants fans want to see Brian Daboll coach Bryce Young
There is a rather large contingent of Giants fans on social media campaigning for the team to make a trade to acquire Young. The feeling among those fans is that Young has not been given a proper chance and combining him with Giants head coach Brian Daboll could unlock something.
Daboll is credited with being a key cog in the development of Buffalo Bills superstar QB Josh Allen. Daboll was the Bills’ offensive coordinator from Allen’s rookie season in 2018 until 2021 when he was hired as Big Blue’s head coach in the 2022 offseason. Allen blossomed into a perennial MVP candidate by the 2020 season.
In 2022, Jones had the best season of his career, his first season playing under Daboll. It seemed as though Daboll unlocked something in Jones as he tossed for a career-high 3,205 yards that season and cut his turnovers down significantly, posting a league-low 1.1% interception rate.
Considering the effect that Daboll’s coaching has had on Allen and Jones, the prospects of him coaching Young could be exciting. Young was the first-overall pick in last year’s draft for a reason and he did enter the NFL with plenty of talent. For one reason or another, Young’s potential has not been realized. Perhaps Daboll could help him realize that potential.
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Why the Panthers likely won’t trade Young to the Giants
The Carolina Panthers likely don’t view this benching as the end of the Bryce Young Era. The team is struggling and so is Young whose confidence looks destroyed on Sundays. He needs time to regroup and rookie head coach Dave Canales needs time to figure out what he is doing and how best to develop Young. Giving Young a break and letting him grow, develop, and regain his confidence behind the scenes is the right move. The Panthers invested a No. 1 overall pick in Young, so the odds of them giving up on him so soon are still slim, despite the benching.
On top of all of that, the Giants also need to be mindful of their salary cap situation. Their current starting quarterback already has a $47.85 million cap hit this season. Young has a cap hit of $8.6 million this season and that number increases to $10.35 million next season, then $12 million in 2026. Meanwhile, the Giants only have $5.72 million in cap space right now, so they would have to restructure other contracts just to acquire Young midseason.
The Giants have already allocated $53.77 million of their total salary to the quarterback position ($47.85 million to Jones, $5 million to Drew Lock, and $915,000 to Tommy DeVito). Tacking on another $8.6 million cap charge to the position would just be irresponsible at this point, unless it was for the team’s own first-round draft choice.
Instead of trading for Young, the Giants need to tough it out with what they have on their roster. They didn’t sign Lock to a $5 million contract just to replace him with a more expensive, less experienced player midway through the season. All around the league, veteran quarterbacks have been having a career resurgence — Baker Mayfield, Geno Smith, and the most recent example, Sam Darnold. Lock is in his sixth season and could have something unlocked by Daboll.
If the Giants want to get a young, high-potential player to develop at the quarterback position, then they should make drafting one in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft their top priority next offseason.
