Daniel Jones has emerged, against all odds, as the Giants' franchise QB

By Ralph Vacchiano
Published

John Mara never really had any doubts about Daniel Jones. He's said that over and over again through the last few years. And the new regime he hired last year didn't really doubt him, either. They just wanted time to evaluate the quarterback for themselves.

That was the message they gave Jones last April when they told him they were declining the fifth-year option on his rookie contract. It wasn't that they wanted to move on, it was that they wanted him to prove it. They wanted him to show he really was worth building around.

So he did. 

There's still the difficult work of negotiation, but it's been clear for a while now that Jones is the Giants' guy, that they want to lock him up to a long-term contract and give him the keys to the franchise. They are now sure he's a quarterback they can win with if they can ever put a decent team around him. Saquon Barkley has been fantastic and Andrew Thomas has emerged as an anchor at left tackle, but considering the dearth of wide receiver talent on the roster, Jones has been their MVP all season long. 

These Giants wouldn't have been anywhere near their first playoff berth since 2016 if it wasn't for the play of Daniel Jones.

"Just happy for him," Mara told reporters after the Giants clinched a playoff berth with a 38-10 win over the Colts — his team's biggest win in six years. "You draft him as high as we drafted him, we got a lot of criticism. He took a lot of criticism. And to see him coming into his own is very gratifying for us." 

It should be, just like somewhere up in Cape Cod, Mass., former Giants GM Dave Gettleman is surely feeling gratified too. He's the one who was all-in on Jones as the successor to Eli Manning back in 2019. He's the one whose neck was on the line when he stunned many around the NFL by drafting Jones sixth overall. 

There have been so many questions about Jones since then. He played well in his first season, but he couldn't stop fumbling. The offense wilted over the last few years under his direction, even though no one thought it was all his fault. And he kept getting hurt — an ankle injury here, a neck injury there — which was startling for everyone who watched his predecessor start an amazing 210 consecutive games.

So all he did, with all those questions hovering over him, after the Giants told him they wouldn't make a one-year, $22.4 million investment in him for 2023, after they told him he still had something to prove, was go out and show he was as tough as Phil Simms or Manning or any other quarterback the Giants have ever had — that he had the potential to maybe, someday be as good, too. Jones has completed 67.2% of his passes for 3,205 yards and 15 touchdowns so far, despite playing with a patchwork receiving corps that includes no one who was in the top six of the Giants' depth chart during training camp. He's only thrown five interceptions — fewest in the NFL among quarterbacks who've made more than 10 starts. He's even only fumbled six times (losing just three).

And he's played every single game, despite taking more brutal hits than any quarterback should, thanks in part to an injury-riddled offensive line that wasn't all that good to begin with, and to the fact that he's put his body on the line by running 120 times — double his career-high — for 708 yards and seven touchdowns. Daniel Jones running has been the Giants' best play all season long. He showed that again on Sunday when he ran 11 times for 91 yards and two touchdowns against the Colts. 

He took huge hits at the end of both of those touchdown runs, too. Then he got up. He keeps getting up. And he keeps carrying his team.

"That guy, he works his tail off," said Giants running back Saquon Barkley. "He's the toughest quarterback in the league. He'll do whatever it takes to help the team win football games. He comes to work every single day with that mentality and I'm just happy for him." 

Jones always had the respect of his teammates, coaches and bosses. But the real symbolic moment of total acceptance came on Sunday, with 7:30 remaining in the Giants' clinching party. That's when Giants coach Brian Daboll sent his backup quarterback onto the field to relieve the starter.

By then, the deliriously happy crowd at MetLife Stadium was already chanting Daniel Jones' name.

"Hearing his name getting chanted, it's a beautiful thing," Barkley said. "You can finally see he's starting to get the respect that he earns. I know everyone wanted to be a big critic of him, but he gave us the opportunity to play playoff football. When we needed him most he came up and made big plays." 

Jones' reaction to the crowd reaction was right out of the Eli Manning playbook. "I'm really appreciative," he said. "Grateful." Then he deflected the credit and attention to everyone else on the team. He is, in so many ways, a Manning clone with his stoic demeanor that — just like Manning — hides the competitive fire that erupts on the field.

He's got a long way to go to be Manning, of course. Leading this rag-tag team to the playoffs was only the first step. It was a significant step, though. It helped revitalize a downtrodden franchise, and it proved to Mara that it's time to open up the Giants' bank.

That part won't be easy. The $22.4 million they could have paid Jones for 2023 won't even be close to the starting point when negotiations begin. The going rate for quality NFL starting quarterbacks these days is around $40 million per season. Even if the Giants have to use the franchise tag on Jones to buy time until they can reach a deal, he'll cost them about $32.4 million. So he's surely not going to accept less per year than that.

And no, don't for a second think Jones will be willing to sign at a discount. That's just not the way it works in the NFL — certainly not when there are so many quarterback-needy teams who would line up to bid on him this offseason, including the Colts, Texans, Panthers and Commanders. And yes, maybe the Jets.

But the Giants will pay him, even though they do have to somehow balance that with whatever they pay Barkley. And yes, they would like to bring Barkley back too. They'd also love to somehow do both without using up too much of the $60 million-plus in salary cap space they're expected to have in the offseason, so they can actually build a quality team around those two.

But that's for GM Joe Schoen to figure out later. The big decision on Jones is clearly made, even if the deal isn't. The Giants won't have to jump on the offseason quarterback carousel because they have their franchise quarterback. Daniel Jones may not yet be the next Eli Manning or the next Josh Allen. But the Giants now know for sure that they can win with him.

And that's all they ever needed to see.

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Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.