When the New York Giants signed veteran quarterback Drew Lock early in free agency, they made it abundantly clear to him that his role would be to back up Daniel Jones.
Lock has expressed that reality to members of the media multiple times.
“Daniel Jones is the starter of this team,” Lock said shortly after signing. “That’s been conveyed to me.”
General manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll have also committed to Jones as their starter — repeatedly — but for some, the message just won’t stick.
In a recent article offering up 100 bold predictions for the 2024 season, Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated jumped in head-first and proclaimed that Lock would finish the season as the Giants’ starting quarterback and would play more games than Jones.
3. The New York Giants will finish the season with their quarterback of the near future and his name is …
Drew Lock. Many times, I have felt something with utmost certainty (see: last year’s prediction about the Arizona Cardinals stumbling into the No. 1 pick) only to have that prediction not come anywhere close to being true. However, this season seems set up for Lock to take the job from Daniel Jones at some point, should Jones struggle. And, it seems set up for Jones and Brian Daboll to cook up an offense that feeds Malik Nabers and steals a few wins in the process. I think the Giants are a sneaky second-place team in the NFC East, with Lock starting a majority of the games.
If Jones were to struggle or get injured this coming season, that would likely mean the offensive line rebuild has failed once again. That would be catastrophic for not only Jones and the Giants but for Lock as well.
Lock is a pure pocket passer and would be forced to take a beating behind a non-functioning O-line. He would likely last in the same way Tyrod Taylor did a season ago.
A bolder prediction would be Tommy DeVito once again taking over as the team’s starter because the two quarterbacks ahead of him were injured.
That seems like a more realistic outcome than a non-mobile Lock surviving when an extremely mobile Jones could not.
