New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones continues to hit the benchmarks of his recovery from a season-ending torn ACL suffered last year and expects to be fully ready to go by the first day of training camp later this summer.
He is past the basics. Now, the task at hand includes intensifying his running and cutting.
“Knee feels good. Really good,” he said. “I think every week I’ve continued to feel better and better and taking steps. Doing a lot of the same things I’ve been doing, but doing them better and feeling sharper, cleaner with a lot of my cuts. Kind of working on getting that explosiveness back and then taking steps in improving my change of direction and cutting from even where it was before the injury.”
Jones, who is entering the second year of a four-year contract that features a team option following the season, did not participate in 11-on-11 drills Tuesday but did partake in individual drills with no restrictions and only a sleeve on that surgically repaired right knee. He still needs to be cleared by doctors to rejoin his teammates in practice. In the meantime, Drew Lock is running the first-team offense.
“I’ve kind of hit every mark I’ve set to hit, and the trainers and doctors set for me to this point,” Jones said. “I’ll continue to try to do that. I’m going to push to do as much as they’ll let me do. I feel good about where I am and the process we’ve followed and how we’ve gone about it. We’ll continue to work through this week obviously and then through the summer leading up to training camp.”
Upon his return under center, Jones will have a young group of receivers to build a rapport with — the most notable of them being Malik Nabers, who was selected out of LSU with the No. 6 overall pick of the 2024 Draft. But the Giants’ QB already likes what he has seen from the rookie.
“I think he can be a tremendous weapon for us. He’s had a good spring,” he said. “He’s looked good and made a lot of plays. You know, it takes time and work and we’ll put that in. I mean, he can do everything. There is not much that he can’t do really from a route-running standpoint. He is dynamic with the ball in his hands and strong, fast, explosive, catches the ball well. Yeah, he does a lot well.”
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