Giants QB Daniel Jones Among Ten Players With Most to Prove in 2024

Daniel Jones needs to show he can be the quarterback he was in 2022 to silence his critics.

New York Giants QB Daniel Jones / Tariq Zehawi/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY

New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones has already been named the team's starter (once he is healthy) by head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen. 

But just because that heat is off of Jones doesn’t mean it’s smooth sailing for the sixth overall pick in the 2019 draft, who enters Year 2 of his four-year, $160 million contract this season.

Jones landed on Pro Football Focus’s list of ten players with the most to prove in 2024. 

Notes author Bradley Locker of his inclusion of Jones on the list: "Jones looked like an efficient, occasionally game-breaking quarterback during the 2022 season, helping propel the Giants to their first playoff win since 2012. 

“However, in 2023, an injury-riddled Jones put up a career-low 63.0 overall grade, finishing with more than double the number of turnover-worthy plays (nine) than big-time throws (four)."

Locker is correct that Jones’s time with Daboll has been a tale of two halves. The team has continued to try to build around him by improving his offensive line and landing a top-shelf receiver in Maik Nabers. Still, lingering concerns about Jones’s ability to process post-snap reads and stay healthy refuse to go away.

But there is hope that with all these improvements, Jones might look closer to the quarterback he was in 2022 when he led the team to a 9-7-1 record and a postseason berth that included their first win since the 2011 campaign. 

But as far as Locker is concerned, it’s clear that the Giants aren’t necessarily married to Jones for the long-term, thanks to the extensive work they did on quarterbacks leading up to the draft and their attempt to trade up to land Drake Maye in the first round of this year’s draft.

"The fact that Joe Schoen and company performed that work doesn’t seem like an illusion, though. If Jones struggles in a second consecutive season, his time starting in New York — let alone anywhere — might be up," said Locker.

This isn't an overreaction, as Jones' play in 2023 was not good. Yes, the offensive line was historically bad, but there were numerous occasions where Jones simply couldn't make the plays that were there to be made. 

He'd miss on deep throws, not see players open down the field, instead electing to take the check-down, and simply couldn't elevate those around him. His two touchdown passes came in one game, in their Week 2 comeback victory against the Cardinals.  

Jones now has Nabers, who is by far the best-receiving weapon he's had in his career.  The Giants also poured a lot of resources into the offensive line which they hope will be improved. 

Given all these factors, plus this being Jones’s third year in the same system, there should be nowhere to go but up for Jones as he seeks to silence his critics once and for all.   

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