The New York Giants are once again at a crossroads.
They hold the No. 6 overall selection in the 2024 NFL draft, one that is rife with potential franchise quarterbacks. They also had the No. 6 overall selection in 2019’s draft and took the oft-injured, erratic, and fan-polarizing quarterback Daniel Jones, who is currently rehabbing from a season-ending ACL injury.
Jones is under contract for another three seasons with the Giants having potential ‘out’ after this year. They are publicly pretending that Jones is still their long-term answer at quarterback, but the football world isn’t buying it.
The Giants have just Jones and local folk hero Tommy DeVito under contract this season. That’s not enough to compete in a league where even teams with future Hall of Fame QBs are struggling.
What will the Giants do if Jones is not ready to play in Week 1 of the upcoming season?
“There’s a chance he’s not ready Week 1,” general manager Joe Schoen said this week.
“Plan for the worst, hope for the best — like you plan for him not being ready, so you’re going to need somebody that can hopefully win you some games early on if he’s not ready.”
That could be in the form of a veteran such as Tyrod Taylor, who helped the Giants compete in his relief appearances of both Jones and DeVito this year. But he is a free agent come March, so the Giants will likely have to overpay for the 34-going-on-35-year-old.
Then again, there will likely be a potential stud quarterback at No. 6 when the Giants are on the clock at this year’s NFL draft. They simply might just grab one and move forward.
Jones isn’t ready to fold his hand just yet. He feels he still has much to prove and believes he will be ready to wrest that opportunity.
“The goal is to be back by training camp,” Jones said Monday as the Giants closed out their locker room for the season, “and I feel like I’m making good progress.”
Not very encouraging for a team that has provided a slew of troubling optics lately. Jones not only tore up his knee but aggravated his chronic neck ailment as well. He’s not concerned.
“Each of those injuries are different circumstances and situational things that come up,” Jones said, “but I’m confident I’ll be healthy.”
That’s not enough for Giant fans. They’ve seen enough of Jones — healthy or not — and maybe so have the Giants.
