Giants Daniel Jones Named a "Player to Root For" in 2024

This upcoming season could have big implications for Jones' future with the team.

Daniel Jones, quarterback, throws the ball during practice. The NY Giants NFL team held an organized team activity at their training facility in East Rutherford, NJ on Thursday May 30, 2024. / Tariq Zehawi/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY

New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones will enter 2024 knowing it will be a make-or-break season. 

While his status as the team’s starting quarterback continues to divide the fan base, Jones still has plenty of supporters who believe that with a better offensive line in front of him and the new additions to his receiving corps, he can get back to being the quarterback he was in 2022 when he took the team to its first postseason berth since 2016. 

Dan Parr of NFL.com is one such supporter, having included Jones on his list of players to root for in the upcoming season.

"Considering Jones is guaranteed to make $36 million this season, I realize the man doesn’t need my sympathy,” Parr wrote. 

“I still have some for him, though. Fed-up Giants fans might not want to hear it, but Dimes doesn’t seem to catch many breaks on the field. The offensive lines protecting him (or not) were ranked 30th or lower by PFF in each of the last four years. 

"So, yes, it’s not a surprise he’s had injury issues. Now he’s entering a season that could be his last with New York if he doesn’t play much better, following an offseason in which the Giants tried to replace him via the draft.”

Jones certainly hasn’t had it easy since being the sixth overall pick in the 2019 draft. After a promising rookie season in which he scored a career-high 24 touchdowns while going 284 of 459 for 3,027 yards, Jones went through an odyssey that saw him have to learn two new systems installed under head coaches Joe Judge and Brian Daboll.

In addition to the upheaval and his injury history, Jones never really had a receiver like what he’s been given in Malik Naers. 

Yet despite the shortcomings, he’s tried to make the best of a difficult situation, something he did in 2022 when he posted career highs in completion percentage (67.2 percent) and passing yards (3,205) and a career-low in interceptions (five).

 All that forward progress made by Jones in 2022 went out the window in the team’s first game of the 2023 season. Injuries to offensive tackle Andrew Thomas, running back Saquon Barkley, and tight end Darren Waller didn’t help matters, nor did Jones’s injury issues, which included his second neck issue in three years.

Other than for two solid quarters against the Arizona Cardinals in a come-from-behind victory, Jones appeared to have regressed into an uncertain quarterback who struggled with his post-snap reads and who put just over 20 percent of his pass attempts in harm’s way, according to Pro Football Focus. 

Perhaps as a result of the inconsistency, the Giants were reportedly looking to move up in the draft to acquire Drake Maye, which, had they done so, would have meant the end of Jones’s tenure as the franchise's long-term quarterback. 

But now, with Jones in a pivotal year–the team can terminate his contract after this season if he fails to raise the level of his play–the ball’s in his court.   

Parr went on to praise the Giants for upgrading the talent around Jones but wondered if it was too little, too late. 

“It would be fun -- and unexpected -- to see Jones silence the critics,” Parr said. “No one deserves to have a career defined by the one play where you run 80 yards and then fall over without being touched."

Jones has drawn considerable attention this off-season from national media sites, who, like the fan base, are split in their opinion of his future as the team’s starter. Jones was recently among the players included on Pro Football Focus' list of 10 players with the most to prove in 2024.

The pieces are in place for Jones to have a better season. If Jones can recapture his performance in 2022, the Giants won't have to question if they should hunt for a quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft. 

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