Tiki Barber Shreds Giants Over Handling of Daniel Jones Divorce

The former Giant turned local radio host saw the turmoil from the quarterback’s exit as a major distraction towards the outcome of their latest performance against Tampa Bay.

New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll gestures to quarterback Daniel Jones (8) after Jones throws an interception in the second half. The Seahawks defeated the Giants, 24-3, at MetLife Stadium on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, in East Rutherford. / Danielle Parhizkaran/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK

 If anyone wants to gain a real-life example of the phrase “domino effect” in professional sports, look no further than the perfect display that has taken place at 1925 Giants Drive over the past few weeks. 

After starting the season off with a 2-8 record and inefficient quarterback play, the New York Giants brass decided it was finally time for a momentous change in command after six mostly beleaguered seasons. 

General manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll watched the film, evaluating their minds needed to move with assurance. They benched starting quarterback Daniel Jones for the remainder of the 2024 campaign while filtering in third-string apprentice Tommy DeVito for his second rodeo at the helm of the position. 

The era-ending decision, oft-criticized for being made two years too late after Jones was handed a four-year, $160 million contract with just over $80 million in guaranteed money by the regime in 2022, was labeled a “football decision” without hesitation, with the notion that the offense needed a spark and Jones was no longer the man to supply that to their team in the final seven games. 

Unfortunately, the Giants weren’t fooling many including the players inside their locker room who knew the play was purely business and removed the team’s best quarterback from the equation for the sake of preserving an injury guarantee of $23 million from kicking in should Jones have gotten injured before the start of the new league year.

Neither did the spark happen, as the Giants were rolled over with DeVito under center against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home, losing their sixth straight homestand 30-7 and falling to 2-9 with a firmer grasp on the top of the NFL draft order for next April.

That wasn’t the biggest issue for many who watched it all unfold amid the building drama from another losing season. For some, including former Giants running back turned WFAN radio host Tiki Barber, the problem for the franchise’s leadership to answer to was the timing of it all, which he believes was executed at the completely wrong end of the Giants’ bye week. 

“I’m understanding of the turmoil that happened emotionally over the past days, but should it have been handled differently? Yes," said Barber emphatically on his local radio program. 

“Let it all get dumped on a week where nothing is going on. To let all that transpire right before a game is so distracting. To push it into the game week is an egregious mistake, and that’s the one thing to me that makes you say, ‘do you know what the hell you are doing?’”

The benching of Jones was most certainly warranted, but it felt like a choice that was a little bit misjudged in its execution. The Giants had been earning suggestions from the media for weeks about Jones’ status in the offense only to repeat the same company mindset that he was the guy that gave them the best chance to win every given Sunday. 

Except that motto wasn’t living up to the reality of his performances on the gridiron. Jones was thrust into several more games as the starter with just one contest in the last four finishing with more than 200 passing yards and a 2-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He was committing repetitive miscues, including overthrowing or completely missing wide-open receivers due to poor reads. 

The decision to finally evaluate the quarterback position came after a miserable outing in which Jones completed under 60 percent of his throws for 190 yards and two turnovers against the Carolina Panthers in Munich, Germany, in Week 10. 

Yet, the team sat on their hands for the entirety of the bye week instead of getting ahead, benching Jones and letting the move sink in before they returned to preparation and action against the Buccaneers, who were equally struggle-bound as them. 

When it was announced, it set off divisions within the locker room as veterans and rookies alike expressed doubts about the transition from Jones to DeVito. Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence was the first player to make his voice heard on the matter, and was followed by wide receiver Malik Nabers who called out factors beyond the quarterback change as the cause for the Giants’ major ineptitude.

Then, all the distractions hit their peak when Jones, who was seen serving on scout defense in his last full day as a Giant, went to ownership and requested his release from the team. It led to a week full of endless questions about the divorce and the future with six games left, and the emotions of the divisive move carried its way into a demoralizing loss that Sunday. 

The Giants came out extremely flat as they watched Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers put up 450 yards of total offense, over 300 of which came in the first half, and four touchdowns for full control of the contest. The only spark they received was the one that came when the lights were seemingly shut off in the third quarter at MetLife Stadium, and it wasn’t anywhere to be found in the postgame commentary. 

Barber marked the entire display as a perfect example of incompetency by Daboll and Schoen who forgot all that goes into preparing for a football game and how another negative storyline did nothing to help the Giants right the ship coming off the two week lull. 

“Forget about yourself, forget about how you’re going to be evaluated and how people are going to think about you, Joe Schoen or Brian Daboll,” Barber said. Forget about the emotions you’re going to absorb because of this, it's not about you.”

“There are 53 guys that have to play a football game. That’s going to evaluate you more than what you do from a business decision, if you have to make a business decision, make it. Don’t push it into the week where the guys are going to get so distracted that they can’t focus on football.”

Whether they like it or not, the Giants will still have five games left to brace for and use any hope of a case for John Mara and Steve Tisch to hold onto the regime that is hanging by a thread for next season.  

If the team doesn’t rally around who they’ve got under center now and play with some semblance of pride against the Cowboys, a consecutive embarrassing and lifeless showing will be the final gavel on the leadership abilities of the current regime which already seems to have lost a good portion, including significant players, inside the facilities at East Rutherford. 

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