The Giants 2023 NFL season has seemingly gone off the rails. After snapping their four-game losing streak from earlier in the year, New York has started a new losing streak, dropping their last three contests. Their 2-8 record currently qualifies them for the second-overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. With USC quarterback Caleb Williams and North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye likely to be locked in as the first two college passers taken in the draft, are the Giants going to pass up a top college arm in the top 2? 
According to Ralph Vacchiano of FOX Sports, “it’s far from guaranteed that the Giants would actually” draft Williams or Maye to replace starting quarterback Daniel Jones. There are several factors that play into the team’s loyalty to the veteran passer, but essentially, they haven’t given up on hopes that he will be the long-term answer for New York at quarterback.
The first clear sign of this is the fact that, only four months ago, the Giants signed Jones to a four-year, $160MM contract extension. The team expressed their support for the 26-year-old at that point, and though things haven’t panned out thus far, they’re not ready to give up on him yet.
Jones earned that extension after showing tremendous improvement under the tutelage of new head coach Brian Daboll and new offensive coordinator Mike Kafka last year. The new coaching took some of Jones’ biggest weaknesses, namely turnovers, and turned them into a strength. After throwing 29 interceptions and fumbling the football 36 times in his first three seasons, Jones led the league in lowest percentage of pass attempts resulting in an interception after throwing just five picks and fumbled the ball a career-low six times in 2022. Beyond that, Jones teamed up with his backfield mate, running back Saquon Barkley, to lead the Giants to their first postseason berth since 2016.
This year, the results have been drastically different, but realistically, the coaches and front office aren’t viewing the numbers in a vacuum. Sure, the team has the league’s second-worst record and only won one game in which Jones started, and yes, Jones’ touchdown-interception ratio of 2-6 and four fumbles in six games seems to show a regression of his strongest traits from last year, but these statistics aren’t solely the result of Jones’ play. First, of his six starts, three of them were without Barkley by his side and four of them were without starting left tackle Andrew Thomas protecting him. Second, a porous offensive line has led to the veteran passer taking a battering.
“It’s almost an unfair evaluation,” an NFC scout told Vacchiano. “He was getting battered. He had no time to run an offense before the rush was in his face. He didn’t look good, I’m not excusing him, but he didn’t have much of a chance. And I think (the Giants) know that.”
The disastrous offensive line resulted in Jones taking a beating. Whether related to the constant pressure or not, Jones ended up suffering a neck injury that would hold him out for three games. His short-lived return to play ended with him tearing his ACL, taking him out for the remainder of the season. Injuries, both to himself and to his teammates, paired with poor offensive play around him led to a decline in Jones’ performance this year. The Giants understand that and will likely continue giving him a chance to show he’s a franchise quarterback.
That decision also proves to be a bit self-serving for Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen. Despite the duo leading the team to the playoffs in their first year at the helm, Vacchiano states that in today’s cutthroat NFL, a serious step backward might not be something to two staffers could afford. Making the move to draft and rely on a rookie quarterback very often can result in a step backward, and after the disappointment of this season, another year of regression has the potential to spell doom for Daboll and Schoen. That being said, Jordan Schultz of Bleacher Report made it clear that, “barring something drastic,” both will return with Jones in 2024.
Still, the two aren’t ruling anything out. While proclaiming their faith in Jones, the Giants are still actively doing their homework on Williams and Maye. Schoen has reportedly already seen both college passers in person, and the personnel department will likely continue keeping a close eye on the two. Especially with the current unknown of Jones’ recovery time, quarterback may become a big offseason need for New York if Jones isn’t expected back in time for camp.
It’s an ugly situation and a difficult decision for the Giants to make. And, as of now, it’s not one they’ve decided on yet. They have reason and need to rely on Jones going forward, but it may become necessary at some point to bolster the position, just in case. They’re not ready to give up on Jones yet, but they need to be prepared to face that possibility should it arise.
Yeah, right. Zero chance the Giants pass on Williams or Maye if they draft first or second.
I think it would make sense for them to give up the pick for an established All Pro offensive lineman…but finding a trade partner would be difficult.
To me, that’s an admission that they’re horrible at scouting. To your point though, they whiffed on the LT, Evan Neal, at 7.
First round whiffs are costly which is why looking at a proven veteran might be the better option.
Proven vets are also costly!
Jones has more turnovers in his career than TDs.
Not quite.
62 passing TDs + 13 rushing TD = 75 total TD.
40 INT + 24 fumbles lost = 64 turnovers.
For some reason, fbref shows total fumbles but not fumbles lost. He’s only lost 24 of the 46.
@myaccount2: I don’t know why they do it this way, but on fbref you have to look at individual season game logs to see the Fumbles/Fumbles lost. Here:
2019 – 19 fumbles, 11 lost
2020 – 11 fumbles, 6 lost
2021 – 7 fumbles, 3 lost
2022 – 6 fumbles, 3 lost
2023 – 4 fumbles, 1 lost
Any QB that throws those many picks, & has that many fumbles (lost or not) is not even close to a QB1, let alone ‘franchise QB’. They need to cut him and own up to their error last offseason.
If they decide to stand pat with Dan, it’ll be a new GM & HC the following offseason.
Don’t tell Eli Manning that..
@rct- Idk either, it’s really annoying. There should be a separate column right next to it.
@arty- I think you would be surprised by total fumbles for QBs. 46 over 60 games isn’t that crazy. Moon had 166 in 202 games. Elway had 137 in 234 games. Eli had 125 in 236 games. Favre had 166 in 302 games. Bledsoe had 123 in 194 games. Cunningham had 105 in 161 games. Roethlisberger had 115 in 249 games. Rivers had 111 in 244 games. Vick once had 36 over a 46 game period. I could go on and on, but I’ll stop there.
And some of those guys are pure pocket passers, whereas Jones actually makes plays on the ground.
15 TD’s in 16 games gets $160mil. The Giants are loyal because they owe him money – but they surely aren’t stupid enough to pass up a QB in the draft
Well, in fairness, he also had 7 TD on the ground last season. So 22 TD.
nunzio1749 in all fairness I saw Tyrod Taylor make players better in 2 games in 5 seasons I can’t say that about D Jones
It’s only $81 million in guaranteed money. And also, Jones was the main reason the Giants made the playoffs last year despite a middling defense, a porous OL, and potentially the worst WR corps in the league (especially by season’s end considering injuries and trades).
They were stupid enough to re-up him. I wouldn’t be surprised if they passed on a QB.
I really don’t buy that the Giants won’t move on. If they get a top 2 pick, I think they’ll take a QB. The Giants can get out of Jones’s deal pretty easy after next year, but if they play Jones at all, they risk getting him injured and triggering his injury clause. As of now, he only has $12 million of guaranteed salary for 2025. If he gets injured in 2024, his 2025 salary can jump to $23 million guaranteed.
In other words, if they have a shot at a top QB in the draft, they have $11 million reasons to not even play Jones next year. Take the big cap hit in 2024 by rostering him and not playing him, cut him after June 1 in 2025 and deal with the $11 million or so dead money cap hits in 2025 and 2026.
Yeah, the Giants could draft a rookie QB and have him get battered around like a rag doll, instead of Jones, but aside from getting some brief financial relief, how is this going to make the team more competitive? If this rookie puts up equivalent stats to Jones he will certainly be looking for a Jones type contract in a couple of years. If he winds up being a bust then the Giants waste a couple of years then have to reboot at QB once again. Is it worth it?
Then they need a better line coach or a better scheme that fits their personnel.
They have a lot of needs…lol
In 2011 the Giants had the 31st ranked offensive line. They won the Superbowl. They won largely because of Eli’s elite quarterback play. Giants need an elite quarterback. Obviously drafting a top pic is no guarantee but I doubt they pass up a top QB in the draft unless they get overwhelmed with picks in a trade.
Totally inaccurate. They had the #1 rated offensive line in football that season.
Starters: LT David Diehl, LG Rich Seubert, C Shaun O’Hara, RG Chris Snee, RT Kareem Mackenzie
Starters: LT David Diehl, LG Rich Seubert, C Shaun O’Hara, RG Chris Snee, RT Kareem Mackenzie
The New York Giants have the best offensive line in football because they are elite in every criteria for judging.
That was from Bleacher Report.
He’s citing PFF.com which did rate them 31st. They rated them 24th for running, 31st for pass protection, and 7th for penalties.
“It’s hard to look past David Diehl (-48.1) who was terrible at guard, and even worse at tackle. His on field performance is simply unacceptable, giving up a ridiculous nine sacks, eight hits and 48 hurries during the regular season.” (PFF.com)
I remember that season and more support PFF’s take versus Bleacher Report. Maybe not 31st, but the line was bottom 3rd most of the season. Eli had 4933 yards and 29 TDs that year. The rushing game didn’t get going until December when they started averaging over 100 yards per game after averaging 82 per game the first 11 games. Bradshaw and Jacobs weren’t themselves much of the season as they only combined for 1200 yards. Bradshaw had over 1000 yards himself in both 2010 and 2012 while Jacobs was fading out after 1000 yards in 2007 and 2008 though he still had 823 in 2010 so the 2 of them combined for over 2000 yards just the year before.
The defense was bad. They finished 25th in points allowed and were worse until they woke up the last 2 games of the season when they only gave up 14 apiece, then played well in the playoffs. The pass rush was very inconsistent until they finally put it together late in December and the playoffs, plus they also forced more turnovers.
Eli got them to the playoffs and should have been MVP that season. Once in the playoffs, the rest of the team decided to help, and they won the SB. The 2009 and 2010 Giants were technically both better teams…2010 went 10-6 and missed the playoffs on tiebreakers but had better O and D, while 2009 started 5-0 and fell apart (defensively) but would have made the playoffs had they not kicked to Deshaun.
I love all of those guys and that team. But they were the worst rushing team in the NFL. Dead last in rush yards and dead last in yards per carry.
Eli played out of his mind that season.
The Giants would be foolish not to take a QB this year if they’re at the top of the draft. Hopefully, it’s Maye.
No, Jones hasn’t had time this year but he’s just not a good QB. They hid him real well last year behind a good run game and defense. They were unable to do that this year.
It’s a bold strategy, Cotton
If the Giants finish with either the 1st or 2nd pick there is no way they won’t take a QB. Why? Because it would be career suicide by the Coach ad GM not to. They’ll take a QB sit him for half the year, then play him once he’s up to speed with the NFL a game. Then after the year will cut Jones or look to trade him, if possible.
The reason is it will restart the clock. Both on the QB being on a rookie contract as well as bidding both the Coach And GM some time to keep their jobs.
Jones has proven over the 5 years he’s not a franchise QB. He now has 2 significant neck injuries (he’s one away from a career ending one), now a torn acl and that will impact a very vital part of his game. So the chance to get a franchise QB is imperative.
Now if the Giants finish 3rd or lower I can see a couple of different options. Either take Marvin Harrison Jr, or trade the pick to accumulate a few more 1st and or 2nd rounders to bolster the OL and other positions of need.
Either way we won’t see which way they’re going to go until after the season when the draft order is set.
If the Giants pass on a QB , the whole staff needs to be fired!!!