A Look at Giants' Options if Daniel Jones Can't Play

A look at the various options the Giants have at quarterback if Daniel Jones can't play Sunday.

New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones's neck situation is a good reminder of why one should always take what an injured player says about his ailment with a grain of salt.

On Tuesday, Jones inspired some confidence that his neck issue, suffered when Dolphins linebacker Andrew Van Gikel sacked him last week, was on the mend and was trending in the right direction.

The day before, Jones, in conversation with head coach Brian Daboll, further inspired hope that he'd be good to go when Daboll revealed that Jones claimed to be feeling a lot better (this, though, before the medical test results came back).

So here we are on a Wednesday, and suddenly Jones's neck, for which he's presumably been receiving treatment since Monday, is still very much an issue, and one where he was more sore today than he had been in the days initially following the injury.

That left the Giants with no choice but to hold him out of Wednesday's practice, a session in which quarterbacks don't run the risk of getting hit anyway and one which wasn't a padded practice given how banged up the rest of the team--and in particular the offensive line--is.

Daniel Jones Taking Neck Injury One Day at a Time

So now what? Daboll described Jones as "day-to-day," but those descriptions don't mean anything as they're more designed to keep an opponent guessing about a player's status (not that it works).

That all being said, the Giants have some decisions to make here. They could (and most likely will) go into Sunday night's game with Tyrod Taylor and Tommy DeVito (elevated from the practice squad) as the quarterbacks, with receiver Parris Campbell as the fall-back if Jones is inactive.

Would the Giants bring in another veteran, such as free agent Matt Barkley, who played for Daboll and the Bills? That's possible, though the longer they wait to do so, the less likely that will happen. (In case anyone was wondering, the Giants have just over $4 million in cap space they need to get them through the rest of the season.)

So Taylor is likely going to be it if Jones can't go.

"He's a pro," Daboll said of Taylor. "He's done this a long time. He's played a variety of systems, um, prepares, he prepares every week like he's gonna play anyways. He's a true pro, so he'll be out there today getting all the reps."

Taylor went 14 of 21 for 102 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions in the preseason. Here is what Inside Football had to say about Taylor following his performance in the third and final preseason game this past summer.

In his two series, Taylor, as has occurred all preseason long, did not impress. He was late on his first throw to a streaking and open Jalin Hyatt and underthrew Hyatt on a second go route. He made something out of nothing on a great scramble under tremendous pressure.  He did not look good throwing the ball. He was very elusive with his feet. Taylor has not looked good running the offense in either of his two preseason years with the Giants. His injury history also concerns us regarding whether he can hold up if he should have to take a pounding.

DeVito, a New Jersey native, was something of a summertime darling for his gritty play against fellow second- and third-string players. Daboll said that the coaches have continued developing DeVito, who finished 43 of 64 for 453 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions in the preseason.

Changes to Giants Offense That Have Sunk the Unit

"We're trying to develop him, even though he's on the practice squad, that's a position you gotta spend a lot of time with, particularly in the early part of their career--try to develop because there's, they're not getting a ton of reps, so they're getting the show team reps. But his process of what we expect out of him in terms of preparing and learning the game plan information, going through the tapes, spending extra time, he's done that since he'd been here."

Here was the Inside Football evaluation of DeVito from that same preseason game.

Young quarterbacks with his kind of arm talent and feel for the game don’t come along very often. His size, however, is a debilitating factor. Can he take NFL regular season hits and keep getting up? Can he protect himself well enough to stay in the game? He has to prove his reliability and his decision-making. DeVito made a positive overall effort while dealing with enormous pressure all night. He made many smart decisions; he worked the pocket well and broke it when needed. He threw the ball very well. DeVito really can make every throw. He also has above-average accuracy. He does tend to throw some balls a bit hot. His big-time deep-in throws into the teeth of the zone were top-shelf.  Legit NFL arms with a legit NFL feel for the position are too valuable.

Further complicating matters for the Giants is the offensive line. Given the unit's performance, it's highly unlikely the Giants will expose Jones to any risk if his injury isn't remotely close to being healed.

But more importantly, with the offensive line continuing to ail--the Giants will likely again be without Andrew Thomas, John Michael Schmitz, Shane Lemieux, and Matt Peart this weekend--they'd likely have to spend their two allocated practice squad elevations on offensive line depth--it bears watching to see if the Giants finally make a move on the 53-man roster to add DeVito. 

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