It’s Now or Never for Giants QB Daniel Jones

Daniel Jones now has everything he could possibly need to be successful. The rest is up to him.

Florham Park, NJ -- August 21, 2024 -- Giants quarterback Daniel Jones during the post practice press conference. The New York Giants came to the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center in Florham Park, New Jersey to take part in a joint practice with the New York Jets. / Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK

If New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones feels anything other than the excitement of getting his sixth NFL season underway, he’s keeping that to himself.

Jones, coming off a torn ACL, has always been as cool as a cucumber, at least in the public eye. But he’s also not oblivious that the season, which gets underway this Sunday at home against the Minnesota Vikings, is big for him.

So, how’s he feeling?

“I’m feeling good. Yeah, feeling good,” he said Tuesday at his locker. “I’m ready to go. Excited to get out there.”

Ever since the team came together in the spring, when Jones was about halfway through his rehab and limited in terms of being able to do everything required of him on the football field, Jones has been sporting more than just a beard. 

He’s been said to have attacked his rehab with the kind of gusto opposing defenses attacked him and the rest of the Giants quarterbacks last year. 

When it has come to questions about himself, rather than giving wishy-washy answers, he’s been confident to the point where one wonders if he believed that if he spoke his full recovery and determination to be ready for the start of his sixth NFL season into existence.

That confidence has also spilled over to the field, where Jones has been more authoritative in the huddle, vocal, and animated. It’s been clear to anyone who has seen him practice and play that he’s walking around with a giant-sized chip on his shoulder.

There are reasons for all that. Jones, who is well aware of the out clause the Giants have in his contract after this season, knows there are only 32 starting quarterback jobs available around the league and that once you get one, the last thing you want to do is give the team that anointed you as such a reason to change its mind.

But other factors fuel his newfound swagger besides the growing sound of naysayers begging for the Giants to move on from the former Duke signal caller yesterday.

For the first time in his NFL career, Jones is set up to succeed. He has a competent offensive line. He has a functional running game. He has a strong receiving corps that features a No. 1 receiver in Malik Nabers, a receiver whose talents he’s never had before.

And he has his head coach, quarterback whisper Brian Daboll, set to be in his ear this fall as the team’s playcaller.

After he was hired, Daboll sat with Jones to solicit input into what the quarterback liked to run and what he didn’t. That input was supposed to have been incorporated into the weekly game plans and the game-day game calls.

While only Jones, Daboll, and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, who called plays for the first two seasons of Daboll’s tenure as head coach, know for sure just how much of the feedback Jones gave was incorporated into the game plan, Jones’s now having the original author of the playbook actually in his ear could be a huge turning point for the Giants and Jones.

“We've had a lot of communication over the past few years in meeting rooms and as we game plan throughout the week,” Jones said when asked how it’s been to have had Daboll in his ear. 

“I feel like I have a good feel for how he sees the game and how he calls the game. We've spent a lot of time since the spring together. I've got a lot of confidence and feel good about us being on the same page.” 

He was asked if it’s been different for him to have a new voice in his helmet radio headset.

“I think everyone calls it a little differently,” he conceded. “Different answers to different things. Overall, there are many similarities and many things we've done over the years and had success with. I think it's just getting used to hearing another voice in the helmet and understanding how he sees the game.”

This isn’t to say that Kafka was a disappointment as a playcaller. But with him drawing head coaching opportunities around the league, it’s just a matter of time before Kafka leaves, and Jones would have had a new playcaller in his ear anyway.

With the circumstances being what they are, that time was now. And after months of having Daboll get back on the proverbial bicycle and get back into play calling, something he said he’s always enjoyed doing, he and Jones are now more attached at the hip than ever in this make-or-break season. 

“ I feel like we're in a good spot. I think we're confident,” Jones said of the offense. “We've had a good camp, we're prepared, and we've got to go out and execute on Sunday. 

“I think it's about taking the work you've put in over these last, really since this spring, and translating that to the field. Understanding this game plan, getting on the same page, and executing it on Sunday. I feel good, I think we're confident and ready to go.”

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