Former Giants RB Tiki Barber Weighs in on if Daniel Jones Should Play in Preseason

Barber strongly argues against playing Jones, but there is a drawback.

Jul 26, 2024; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (8) fakes a handoff during Quest Diagnostics Training Center training camp. / Lucas Boland-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Giants will begin the first of their three preseason matchups with the visiting Detroit Lions on Thursday. One of the biggest questions facing them in the preceding hours is quarterback Daniel Jones's playing status. 

Jones, who is entering his sixth NFL season, a potentially career-altering one at that, is just nine months past a season-ending ACL tear that he suffered against the Las Vegas Raiders in November of last season. 

On the heels of a rapid recovery, the sixth overall pick in the 2019 draft has shown some promising signs of returning to his 2022 self. This led the Giants to a postseason victory after vowing all offseason to be ready. And now, as the Giants are set to play in the preseason, Jones told reporters this week that he hoped to get as many snaps as possible in the preseason.

Former Giants running back turned WFAN Radio sports talk show host Tiki Barber is of the opinion the Giants should keep Jones out of the preseason as a precautionary.

“The last thing you want to happen in a preseason practice or preseason game is somebody to try to make the team off of you,” Barber recently said. 

“Making a big hit, a big moment, a ‘look at me’ moment–it puts you on tape. If you’re a veteran or a starting quarterback, it’s the last thing you need…someone young and inexperienced does something stupid in a preseason game.”

Barbers isn’t wrong with his thinking, but as the Giants found out last summer, despite playing it safe with their starters in the preseason if an injury is meant to happen, it will happen. 

Also, the biggest concern with not playing Jones in any of the Giants' preseason games appears to be the idea that the 27-year-old needs to build cohesion with his revamped offensive line and get in sync with some of the new faces in the passing game, such as receiver Malik Nabers.

But the Giants have also given Jones a lot of practice reps, during which time he’s thrown to Nabers, Wan’Dale Robinson, Jalin Hyatt, and Darius Slayton. And more recently, Jones has even started throwing to tight end Thoe Johnson, who is also a figure in the passing game.

Last year, Daboll held Jones and most of the starters out of the preseason action save for a couple of series in the second game. The Giants, as a result of that plus the “soft” training camp they ran last year, came out of the gate looking ill-prepared for the season, a fact punctuated by a 40-0 shellacking by the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1.

While Barber’s point is certainly legitimate, at some point, the Giants will need to remove the bubble wrap from all their key starters and see what they can bring to the table as the team looks to rebound from a disappointing 6-11 season last year.

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