Tight end Darren Waller played just one season with the New York Giants before deciding to retire from the game of football, but that was all he needed to become a fan of quarterback Daniel Jones.
During a recent appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Waller expressed his confidence in Jones and admitted that protection issues ruined any chance the quarterback had in 2023 before being lost to injury.
“I’m just excited for him to get another opportunity,” Waller said, via NFL Media. “I feel like he gets a bad rep. 2022, man, (he) played such good football. Last year was his first opportunity to get out there and play on the new bag that he got. It was tough for us as an offense to protect him, and you can’t put any quarterback back there and not have any protection and expect them to really, truly thrive in the pocket.
“(I’m) hoping that they can get those things shored up and allow him to have an opportunity to show that he is a talented dude, he’s very athletic, like get his opportunity to play the football that he was playing in 2022. I feel like that’s definitely still in him.”
General manager Joe Schoen focused heavily on repairing the offensive line throughout free agency, adding two new starting guards and several depth pieces.
Whether or not that will be enough remains to be seen, but Jones is determined to prove his doubters wrong either way.
“I know him for a fact, he’s motivated and excited to get back out there, excited to lead,” Waller said. “That’s when you learn the most about dudes is responding to opportunities like this.”
The Giants hope Waller is right because this is likely the last chance for DJ to prove he’s “the guy.”
