The Giants have placed Daniel Jones on the IR, effectively ending his 2021 season. Jones finished with 2,248 passing yards, 10 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions. He also had 298 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns on the ground. On a 17 game pace that comes out to 3,752 passing yards, 15 passing touchdowns, 10 interceptions, 461 yards rushing, and 3 rushing touchdowns. Those aren’t gaudy numbers by any means, but it would set his career high in passing and rushing, would be an improvement from last year’s touchdown total (I still contribute his lack of touchdowns to Jason Garrett’s offense), and his fumbles also would have been down to about 11, which would put him in the middle of the pack among quarterbacks. The fact of the matter though, is that he didn’t play 17 games, and he hasn’t completed a full season since he came into the league. These numbers also aren’t what you want out of a quarterback taken number 6 overall. I haven’t made it a secret that I believe Daniel Jones can turn into the Giants next franchise QB, but giving him his 5th year option worth about 21 million dollars doesn’t make sense. He hasn’t proved to this point he deserves to be the franchise QB, so don’t pay him more than you have to. With all of that being said, Daniel Jones will be, and absolutely should be on the Giants roster in 2022.
There are a number of options the Giants are going to have in the offseason at the quarterback position. I think the most obvious is drafting a quarterback in the first round. The Giants have two first round draft picks, and both are likely to be in the top ten. They have all the fire power they need if they want a quarterback. Now, I haven’t looked at any of the new quarterbacks yet, but from what I’ve heard, none of them are sure fire top 5 picks. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what I think, or what you reading thinks, or what any talk show host thinks. Who it comes down to is the new General Manager. If whoever the new GM is wants one of these new QB’s, then they should be able to take him, no questions asked. It already seems like the new GM is going to be forced to stick with Joe Judge as their Head Coach, which to me, doesn’t make sense (unless the Giants promote Kevin Abrams, which they SHOULD NOT DO). They shouldn’t be forced to stick with Daniel Jones as well. Now, at this point, Daniel Jones has plenty of experience under his belt. If you are going to draft a quarterback, why not have DJ stick as your backup quarterback? If you can trade Jones for something, then at that point sure, pull the trigger, but there are far worse options to have behind a young rookie quarterback.
The other option the Giants have is to sign/trade for a veteran quarterback. Now to me, this doesn’t make sense to do, unless you’re talking about a Russell Wilson. Even that doesn’t make much sense unless you’re getting him for great value. Let’s just say that doesn’t happen. Why sign or trade for a veteran stop gap quarterback, when you have the perfect stop gap quarterback on your roster? You don’t want to take a quarterback in the draft just for the sake of taking a quarterback, so why not stick with Daniel Jones another year, and if he still isn’t the guy, then you cut ties and you figure out the position in 2023, when you (hopefully) have a better team in place.
Daniel Jones has one more year left on his contract, and the option for a 5th year. The team should decline his 5th year option, and once they do, it’s a win in any scenario you make up. If the Giants believe in Daniel Jones, then he has one more year to prove he’s the guy, and then you can cut ties if he’s not. If the Giants take a quarterback in the draft next year, he is the perfect backup quarterback for a young kid trying to play in New York. If the Giants are done with Daniel Jones, but don’t like any of the QBs in this draft, then you have a built in stop gap quarterback in DJ.
At the end of the day, Daniel Jones is going to be, and should be a Giant in 2022.
(Photo: Syndication: The Record)
