New York Giants QB Daniel Jones Starting to Play Solid Ball

Jones has taken full advatange of the upgraded supporting cast around him with some really solid play since Week 2.

Oct 6, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (8) looks to pass the ball against the Seattle Seahawks during the first half at Lumen Field. / Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Do the New York Giants have their franchise quarterback already on the team Daniel Jones?

For many, the jury is still out on that question, while for some, short of Jones winning a Super Bowl this year, the answer is a resounding no. 

But Jones, to his credit, has blocked out the noise from outside of 1925 Giants Drive and has quietly been taking advantage of the improved cast of characters around him to produce some of his best ball since 2022.

You remember that season, right? Jones, playing in his first full campaign after having missed part of his first three seasons due to injuries, posted a 9-6-1 season as a starter (the Giants other loss was by Davis Webb, who started the regular-season finale when head coach Brian Daboll sat all the starters in that game), took the team to its first postseason berth since 2016 and guided the team to its first postseason win since 2011.

Jones also posted career highs in completions (317) and passing yards (3,205), while posting a career low in interceptions–all of which led to his four-year, $160 million contract.

Now fully recovered from a season-ending torn ACL, Jones has started to thrive in the Giants' offense. 

If we toss aside Week 1 against the Vikings, a game in which the whole team just didn’t look ready after nearly a month of layoff between games for the starting offense, plus the fact that Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores has made more than one opposing offense cry “Uncle!” this season, Jones has been putting up some solid numbers as he makes his case to prove the naysayers wrong.  

• He has three games with two touchdowns and no interceptions, having last accomplished that in 2022. Two of those three games have been wins (Cleveland and Seattle), while the third (Washington) would have been a win had the Giants had a healthy kicker.
• He’s tossed 58 first downs in five games, already having surpassed the 43 he threw in six games last year before his season-ending injury.
• He’s posted a 43.2% success rate in terms of getting the minimum required yardage on each down, the second-highest rate of his career since 2022 (45.7%).
• He has the tenth most passing yards in the league through five weeks (1,138).
• He’s thrown one interception in his last three games that has counted, and that one came on a “Hail Mary” play.
• He’s completed at least 67.6% of his pass attempts in his last three games, and has increased his yards per attempt to over 7.0 in his last two.
• He’s cut down on his bad throws, having tossed 16 out of 178 attempts (9.3%).

Of course, credit must be given to Jones’s supporting case. The offensive line has kept Jones clean for the most part–he’s only been pressured on 20.8% of his dropbacks, which is currently a career-low–and has been sacked 12 times on the year, five of those coming in the Week 1 loss to the Vikings.

He has a No. 1 receiver in Malik Nabers, who has a 110.4 receiver target rating the highest for a Giants receiver since Isaiah Hodgins posted a 118.1 rating the year prior.

Jones has Brian Daboll in his ear calling the plays, an added boost given his experience, creativity, and approach to ensuring the ball gets out of Jones’s hand as quickly as possible and that the receivers manage to get more open. Last week, the Giants' top three pass catchers (Dariu s Slayton, Wan’Dale Robinson, and tight end Theo Johnson) all had average separation yardage above the league average of 2.96. 

Jones, who struggled with the deep ball, even looked good in that area. Per NexGen Stats, Jones, against Seattle, completed both of his deep attempts (20+ air yards) for 71 yards and a touchdown against a very good Seahawks defensive secondary after completing just two of his 14 deep attempts for 67 yards and an interception in Weeks 1-4.

Both of his touchdowns came on play-action passes, which, per NextGen Stats, marked the first time in his career he had thrown for multiple touchdowns on play-action passes.

Jones has played several levels above that of a game manager. However, there are still little nuances that need to be addressed, such as his accuracy percentage (66.3%), which is a career low, and his tendency to lean into hits when he takes off as a runner. 

But make no mistake about it. Jones has been playing well, and he has continued to settle down into a groove. If he can continue elevating his game a little bit more this week, it won’t be long until all the talk about the next franchise quarterback for this Giants team goes from being a roar to a barely audible whisper.

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