The New York Giants’ inability to work out a trade with the New England Patriots for the No. 3 pick of the 2024 NFL Draft to take North Carolina’s Drake Maye means that this is still very much Daniel Jones’ team.
“I said it in January after the season,” general manager Joe Schoen began. “Our expectation was Daniel would be our starter and we brought Drew Lock to be his backup and Tommy [DeVito] is a backup, so that’s where we are and that’s how we’ll move forward this season.”
The 26-year-old Jones is recovering from a torn ACL which ended his 2023 season after six games. His brand of football when healthy was not all that inspiring, either. He threw for just 909 yards with two touchdowns and six interceptions — as bad of a start as possible after signing a brand-new four-year, $160 million deal.
While he is expected to be ready for the start of the 2024 season, Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll can opt out of Jones’ contract at the end of the year, meaning that the Duke product will have to prove to the organization that he can still be its franchise quarterback.
In the meantime, Schoen has done all he can to surround Jones with a more competent support system. He improved one of the worst offensive lines in NFL history by adding left guard Aaron Stinnie, right guard Jon Runyan, and right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor — all three are slated to start next season.
Rather than stretch to use their sixth overall pick at the draft on one of the second-tier quarterbacks available like Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. or Oregon’s Bo Nix, the Giants drafted star LSU wide receiver in Malik Nabers who can revitalize a group of playmakers that consists of young, promising talent like Jalin Hyatt and Wan’Dale Robinson, but was stale at times last season. It looked even more bare during free agency when running back Saquon Barkley bolted to Philadelphia to join the Eagles.
The Giants signed veteran running back Devin Singletary to cushion the blow of Barkley’s loss while Nabers is what Daboll classifies as a “generator.”
“People that can do stuff with the ball in their hands,” Daboll said. “Whether that’s take a jet sweep and go 30 yards or whether that’s running a double move and catch it 50 yards down the field to help you score points. You know, just to go back to Malik, I feel that he is that.”
It is a strong endorsement for the newest Giant, who is expected to be the team’s No. 1 receiver moving forward. Whether Jones is his quarterback after his rookie season, though, remains to be seen.
