New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones isn’t going to enter the starting lineup without support from the rest of the team – Jones received high praise during the offseason and the preseason from various teammates, and while it seemed like that might just be the usual offseason talk, it’s now becoming relevant as Jones replaces Eli Manning earlier than the team originally intended.
Jones will make his first start against Tampa Bay, of course, and it comes after the Giants promised for weeks that they were committed to Manning as their top QB. There’s been a lot of speculation about how Jones is going to perform, during the buildup to this game. But as far as the opinion of the team itself, it seems positive so far.
“Just a humble, hungry guy. Very consistent with his routines and his daily plans,” defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence said to the New York Post when describing the rookie. “A guy that I felt came in preparing like he was the starter already. I’m just happy that he got this opportunity to show and prove to himself, that’s what he’s been waiting for. He told me he’s ready.”
Lawrence elaborated further on his comments when asked how good Jones could be in the future. “I think he can be great, honestly. Just seeing how he was in practice, he made some mistakes, but he didn’t consistently make the same mistakes, it was different things. Just how he stayed up late, came in early kind of deal. He was just a guy that’s just hungry.”
We’ll all see soon just how quickly Jones is adapting to the faster and more complex NFL game. Jones might be new, but that isn’t going to do much to reduce the pressure, and the first few starts will likely have a large impact on the role and the perception of Jones going forward – after all, it only took Eli Manning two games this season to end up on the bench.