Daniel Jones

Daniel Jones Fallout: Jones’ Reaction, DeVito, Lock Incentives

November 18th, 2024 at 6:09pm CST by Ben Levine

The Giants ripped off the band-aid today, benching Daniel Jones for Week 12 and likely beyond. The move didn’t come as a complete surprise considering Jones’ subpar play in 2024, especially during the Giants’ active five-game losing streak. While the pivot atop the depth chart seemed inevitable, the team’s trio of quarterbacks only found out this morning.

While speaking to reporters today, coach Brian Daboll revealed that he had a meeting with the Giants’ three QBs to discuss the team’s “direction” (per Connor Hughes SNYtv). Naturally, Jones didn’t take well to his demotion.

“Certainly you’re not going to be happy about that as a competitor, and I respect that,” Daboll said of his former starter (via Ralph Vacchiano of FOX Sports).

Daboll also admitted he talked with Jones about the player’s future with the organization, but the coach kept those conversations private (per Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post). While the QB is still attached to his four-year, $160MM extension, he doesn’t have any salary locked in beyond the 2024 campaign. Jones’ $23MM injury guarantee for 2025 likely played into the organization’s thinking, especially with the front office having an easy out ($30.5MM in cap savings, $11.11MM in dead cap) this offseason.

So, the team will now pivot to Tommy DeVito. The QB went 3-3 as a starter last season, and Daboll acknowledged that DeVito’s 2023 performance played a role in the team’s 2024 decision (via Hughes). The Giants’ decision to go with DeVito over Drew Lock could have also been financially motivated. Michael Ginnitti of Spotrac notes that Lock could have still achieved a handful of incentives, most notably $250K bonuses based on passer rating, completion rate, and touchdowns/receiving yards. With Daboll coaching for his job over the next month, the coach probably only gave minor consideration to this factor.

Of course, Lock could still see the field if DeVito gets injured or benched. The Giants will roll with Lock as their primary backup, meaning Jones won’t even dress as the team looks to avoid an injury to the highly paid QB.

Examining Giants’ Daniel Jones Situation

November 12th, 2024 at 9:45pm CST by Sam Robinson

As you may have heard, the Giants pursued a quarterback upgrade this offseason. The team made Drake Maye its primary target, sending the Patriots a strong offer (Nos. 6 and 47, along with a 2025 first-round pick) for No. 3 overall. The Pats passed on Giants and Vikings offers for the pick and centered their rebuild around Maye. The Giants then passed on selecting J.J. McCarthy, Michael Penix Jr. or Bo Nix despite spending time with all three leading up to the draft.

This always left Daniel Jones in limbo, as he has underwhelmed — for the most part — since becoming Eli Manning‘s successor. Jones’ solid yet unspectacular 2022 notwithstanding, the Giants certainly have not seen him live up to the four-year, $160MM deal they authorized just before the March 2023 deadline to apply franchise tags — which led to Saquon Barkley‘s tag and eventual exit. The domino effect here both benefited the Eagles and likely has GM Joe Schoen on a hot seat — after the Jones-over-Barkley decision affected his 2024 plan as well — despite John Mara‘s reassurances.

Mara gave Schoen and HC Brian Daboll endorsements for both the end of this season and into 2025, but with the Giants at 2-8 and having lost to a struggling Panthers team in Germany, it is fairly safe to assume both power brokers are far from assured to be back next year. Mara had expected a “big step forward” this season.

Mara has been a bit more patient with GMs compared to HCs, giving two-time Super Bowl winner Jerry Reese the chance to hire the head coach post-Tom Coughlin (Ben McAdoo) and allowing Dave Gettleman to select two HCs (Pat Shurmur, Joe Judge). Schoen being given a quick hook would be out of character, but Daboll receiving the boot after three years would not. Daboll is the only Giants HC to see a third season since Coughlin’s exit.

As it stands, the Giants have a decision to make on Jones; a benching is already on the table. Although no more fully guaranteed money remains on Jones’ contract following this season, sixth-year quarterback has a $23MM injury guarantee for 2025. That would kick in if Jones cannot pass a physical by the start of the 2025 league year in March. This has loomed over the Giants since their Maye trade effort failed. Daboll did not open up a competition this offseason, despite some comments from Seahawks GM John Schneider indicating that was on tap, and the New York Post’s Ryan Dunleavy notes no known first-team reps have gone to Drew Lock or Tommy DeVito this season. Jones’ contract situation points to that changing soon.

Since the 2011 draft changed NFL roster-building, Jones is an outlier. He is the only quarterback who remained a starter with the same team in a sixth season despite not averaging more than seven yards per attempt in any of his first five. The Giants passing on long-rumored target McCarthy at No. 6 gave Jones security, as Lock has not proven a threat. New York passing on McCarthy and other QBs at 6 led Malik Nabers to the Big Apple in hopes the LSU product would ignite Jones. While Nabers has certainly flashed, Jones has continued to struggle upon returning from his ACL tear. He exited a two-INT Carolina game ranked 27th in QBR and averaging just 6.1 yards per attempt.

It appears a 2025 Jones release — long viewed as likely — is close to a near-certainty. With Jones seeing his 2021 season end early due to a neck injury that required surgery and then suffering the ACL tear two years later (after missing 2023 games with more neck trouble), the Giants run the risk of another injury triggering those guarantees and hurting their ability to build a 2025 roster. A 2015 Robert Griffin III-style bubble-wrap scenario may be imminent.

If Jones is cut after passing a physical, it would cost the Giants $22.21MM in dead money — a figure that could be spread over two years, in a post-June 1 release scenario — to move on in 2025. A $23MM sum added to that would create more challenges for the team, which would then be responsible for the second-highest dead money figure — well, depending on what the Browns do with Deshaun Watson — in NFL history.

Lock stands as the more likely player to be given the reins in a Jarrett Stidham scenario, and a benching before the Giants’ Week 12 game would give the former Broncos starter and Seahawks backup a longer runway than each of Stidham’s contract-driven outings. Stidham owns this corner right now, having been promoted by both the Raiders and Broncos to protect injury guarantees in 2022 and ’23. Both AFC West teams cut their starters — Derek Carr, Russell Wilson — weeks after elevating Stidham. A Lock promotion would undoubtedly lead to the Jones book closing in New York by March.

The Giants gave Jones a much longer runway than similar passers have received, as recent years have shown it is not uncommon for top-10 QB picks to be benched by Year 2. The team pulling the plug during Year 6 appears all but certain, and a 2025 effort to acquire a replacement brings the Daboll-Schoen regime into focus. With Jones’ fate all but sealed, the more interesting component here will be whether Schoen will be allowed to acquire the QB’s replacement.

GMs rarely receive second chances, which would create a seminal “what if?” for the veteran exec due to him doubling down on Jones — whom Mara has strongly supported in past offseasons — rather than going all out to land a potential upgrade. Schoen is running out of time to make a sales pitch, and this Jones decision will certainly play into Mara’s long-term thinking as he determines if another housecleaning is necessary.

Giants GM Joe Schoen Expects To Be Back In 2025

November 12th, 2024 at 2:54pm CST by Sam Robinson

Losers of five straight, the Giants have not won a game since John Mara issued a vote of confidence in the Joe Schoen-Brian Daboll regime. Mara offered support for the decision-makers to stay throughout this season and said he did not anticipate a change in 2025. Some around the league are skeptical of this pledge.

At 2-8, this Giants team is probably testing the owner’s patience. When asked about his future in New York, Schoen said (via the New York Post’s Ryan Dunleavy) he does expect to be back next year. The third-year GM indicated he discusses plans with ownership regularly.

“We have a really good relationship with ownership,” Schoen said, via CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones. “… There’s confidence in the plan and where we’re going.”

Arriving after a stay as the Bills’ assistant GM, Schoen helped the Giants to a surprise playoff berth in 2022. Not much has gone right since, with the team’s front office boss taking heat due to his offseason decisions — calls magnified due to the Giants being the Hard Knocks franchise’s maiden-voyage offseason project. Both Saquon Barkley and Xavier McKinney are having All-Pro-caliber years. Both players hit the open market in March, as the Giants passed on a second Barkley franchise tag and did not opt to use the transition tag on McKinney.

Windfalls awaited both players, as Schoen poured resources into the offensive line (via middle-class contracts for Jon Runyan Jr. and Jermaine Eluemunor). team’s pass rush by trading for Brian Burns and extending him at a rate then second only to Nick Bosa among edge rushers. The ex-Panthers rusher’s Carolina play did not warrant such a commitment, one that now sits third at the position after Josh Hines-Allen signed a Jaguars re-up, but Burns had maximized his leverage.

Schoen has also run into scrutiny for his draft record. The team has seen 2022 No. 7 overall pick Evan Neal careen toward bust status, beginning the season as a healthy scratch after a two-season struggle at right tackle. The Giants have also not seen 2023 first-round cornerback Deonte Banks live up to expectations. Multiple warnings about a lack of effort preceded a benching against the Steelers. The Giants also stood pat at the trade deadline, not accepting any offers for contract-year cogs Darius Slayton or Azeez Ojulari — both Dave Gettleman draftees. Gettleman acquisitions — Barkley, McKinney and All-Pros Dexter Lawrence and Andrew Thomas — have been the Giants’ top players during Schoen’s run thus far.

Daniel Jones remains the player still most closely associated with this regime. Schoen made Jones the first QB to see his option declined only to be subsequently re-signed by that team. Jones has not come close to living up to the four-year, $160MM extension — a deal that effectively led Barkley to Philadelphia — and now may be in danger of being benched so the Giants can ensure a $23MM injury guarantee for 2025 does not kick in.

When asked whether the injury guarantee would play into the club’s thinking on Jones, Schoen confirmed evaluations are ongoing but did not indicate a contract issue would drive a benching. Though, it should not exactly be expected a GM would confirm a contract matter is behind a demotion. That said, The Athletic’s Dan Duggan expects a Jones demotion to take place before the Giants’ Week 12 game.

If Schoen is to be the point man behind identifying a Jones successor next year, the Giants may need to show notable improvement down the stretch. Mara gave Gettleman four-plus seasons as GM, allowing him to hire two HCs despite no playoff berths occurring on his watch. That bodes well for Schoen, though Daboll’s future may be less secure. The 2022 Coach of the Year is the first Giants HC asked back for a third season since Tom Coughlin. Recent history points to Daboll being under more pressure than Schoen, despite the duo’s strong ties dating back to their Buffalo tenures.

Daboll: Giants Evaluating Everything During Bye Week, Including QB

November 11th, 2024 at 9:33pm CST by Nikhil Mehta

The Giants have won just two of their 10 games this season, tied with the Jaguars for the worst winning percentage in the NFL.

“No one is happy with the results and where we’re at,” said head coach Brian Daboll on Monday, per ESPN’s Jordan Raanan.

Daboll refused to confirm that Daniel Jones would remain the Giants’ starting quarterback, only saying that the team was “evaluating things” heading into their bye week, according to Raanan. In past weeks, Daboll has firmly backed Jones when asked about his starting status, but his non-answer on Monday suggests that New York could be contemplating a change under center.

Daboll additionally indicated that he would be in communication with the Giants’ ownership regarding any potential decision to bench Jones, who is in the second year of a four-year, $160MM extension signed during the 2023 offseason. A benching would accelerate speculation that the Giants plan to move on from Jones after this season. An offseason release with a post-June 1 designation would save New York $30.5MM against the salary cap in 2025 and $47.5MM in 2026, with $11.1MM dead cap hits in both years, per OverTheCap.

If the Giants were to bench Jones, they would turn to either Drew Lock or Tommy DeVito. Lock is currently listed as Jones’ backup on the unofficial depth chart, but DeVito started six games last year after Jones’ season-ending ACL tear.

Jones has completed just 63.3% of his passes this year with an average of just 6.1 yards per attempt, the fifth-lowest in the NFL this year. His struggles have hindered the offense as a whole; the Giants will finish Week 10 as the lowest-scoring team in the NFL this year with just 15.6 points per game. At 2-8, their playoff hopes have virtually disappeared, forcing the franchise to consider major changes ahead of another rebuilding offseason.

Giants Owner Doesn’t Anticipate HC/GM Changes

October 23rd, 2024 at 8:48pm CST by Ben Levine

With the Giants sitting at 2-5 and cruising toward another lost season, there’s naturally been speculation surrounding the job status of head coach Brian Daboll and GM Joe Schoen. The duo got a surprising vote of confidence from owner John Mara this evening. While attending a showing of NFL Network’s “The Duke: Wellington Mara’s Giant Life,” Mara told reporters (including NFL.com’s Judy Battista) that he expects to keep his HC/GM tandem through the 2024 campaign and into the 2025 season.

“Obviously we’re all very disappointed with where we are right now,” Mara said (via Pat Leonard of NY Daily News). “But I’m gonna say one thing: we are not making any changes this season. And I do not anticipate making any changes in the offseason, either.”

Mara brought Schoen and Daboll over from Buffalo in 2022. They ended up squeezing out one of Daniel Jones‘ most productive seasons, and the duo helped guide the Giants to their first playoff appearance since 2016. Things didn’t go nearly as well in 2023, with the team falling to 6-11. Jones was limited to only six games, although the Giants were 5-6 with Tommy DeVito and Tyrod Taylor at quarterback.

The Giants have continued to stick with Jones in 2024, and the results have generally been underwhelming. The team did win two of three games between Week 3 and Week 5, but they followed that up by getting outscored 10-45 in their last two contests (including Sunday’s loss to the Eagles when former star Saquon Barkley collected more than 180 total yards). Tensions have naturally started to rise in New York, and precedent would usually point to the top decision makers being a bit reactionary.

Since Tom Coughlin‘s departure, the Giants have employed four head coaches in eight-plus seasons (not including 2017 fill-in Steve Spagnuolo). Mara previously stated a desire to be more patient with his current regime, and that appears to be his approach with Daboll and Schoen. Notably, Mara wouldn’t commit to Jones beyond the 2024 season. Assuming the HC/GM hitch their wagon to a rookie QB in 2025, Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post believes the duo would probably have job security through the 2026 campaign.

On the flip side, it’s only Week 8, so expect plenty of skepticism to surround Mara’s comments. The owner can probably be confident that he won’t make any changes during the 2024 season, but it may be a bit premature to definitively give Daboll and Schoen a full commitment for 2025.

Giants Not Benching QB Daniel Jones

October 20th, 2024 at 5:01pm CST by Adam La Rose

Saquon Barkley‘s first game against the Giants turned out to be a comfortable Eagles victory. During the fourth quarter of the lopsided contest, New York elected to replace Daniel Jones with Drew Lock at quarterback. A permanent change at the position is not under consideration, however.

“I made a change in the fourth quarter when it was 28-3, had about 100 yards, just to create a spark,” head coach Brian Daboll said when speaking to the media after the game (via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk). “Daniel will be the quarterback going forward. But obviously we didn’t do enough offensively.”

Jones completed 14 of 21 passes for 99 scoreless yards on Sunday, adding 20 yards on five rushes. He avoided any turnovers, but as a whole New York’s offense (which will be without left tackle Andrew Thomas for the rest of the season) continued to struggle. The team has managed only one touchdown in four home contests this year, further indication that Jones will not develop as hoped in 2024. For now, at least, the former No. 6 pick is safe atop the depth chart.

“The score didn’t get out of hand,” Daboll added. “I felt we had some chances there to make some plays, just didn’t make them, wasn’t going to take him out then. It’s all the way around, not just quarterback — coaching, everything just wasn’t good enough.”

Of course, Jones’ four-year, $160MM pact has been a major talking point since it was signed. Retaining the 27-year-old was coupled with the decision to tag Barkley last offseason; the latter departed in free agency after talks on a new Giants pact were unsuccessful. Jones’ $40MM AAV has been surpassed by several recent quarterback mega-deals, but it would be a stretch to say he has lived up to expectations so far. Questions loomed about his post-2024 future ahead of the campaign, one in which the Giants now sit at 2-5.

Jones’ contract includes a $23MM injury guarantee for next season, leading to speculation New York could bench him at some point during the year and ensure he remains healthy. If that were to take place, Lock would handle QB1 duties before a serious push to add at the quarterback spot during the offseason. The Giants aggressively pursued a move up the draft board in April to land one of the draft’s top passers, a sign of how they view Jones’ upside. Doing the same in 2025 would come as no surprise at this point, but for the time being Jones will continue operating as the team’s starter.

Latest On QB Daniel Jones’ Future With Giants

September 15th, 2024 at 12:39pm CST by Rory Parks

The Giants’ attempts to trade up in this year’s draft to acquire a top quarterback prospect were clearly not a ringing endorsement of incumbent Daniel Jones, who landed a four-year, $160MM contract from the team in March 2023. The ensuing 2023 season was an injury-marred slog for Jones, who played in just six games and who threw for two touchdowns against six interceptions while posting a 1-5 record and 70.5 quarterback rating.

Owner John Mara recently indicated that he did not have buyer’s remorse over the Jones deal, noting that the Duke product’s injuries – he battled a neck ailment before a season-ending ACL tear – the team’s lack of receiving talent, and a porous O-line conspired to make 2023 a forgettable season for Jones and for Big Blue as a whole. And, while there was never any real QB controversy this summer despite speculation to the contrary, that could change if Jones does not begin to perform at a higher level.

Even if the Giants had been successful in their pursuit of a high-end collegiate signal-caller in the draft, they would have been unable to realistically get out from under Jones’ contract this year. 2025, though, is a different story, as New York can release Jones as a post-June 1 cut next year and realize cap savings of $30.5MM while incurring relatively modest dead money charges of $11.1MM in 2025 and 2026.

However, Jones’ deal also includes $23MM in injury guarantees, a sum that will become fully guaranteed if he suffers an injury and is unable to pass a physical in the offseason. As ESPN’s Adam Schefter wrote this morning, if Jones does not play up to the 2022 standard that helped him secure his notable payday, the Giants could be put to a decision: bench Jones and protect themselves against the injury guarantee – as a number of teams have done in recent history – or continue rolling the dice with the player to whom they made such a sizeable commitment not that long ago?

Connor Hughes of SNY.tv notes that this is not just idle speculation on Schefter’s part, thereby suggesting that the team is already contemplating a Jones benching at some point in the near future (indeed, Hughes reminds us that GM Joe Schoen brought up the topic at his preseason presser, and Hughes himself said he could envision a quarterback change at halftime of the club’s Week 2 contest today if Jones does not play well).

On the other hand, Dan Duggan of The Athletic points out that head coach and offensive play-caller Brian Daboll did not act like a man who was concerned with the injury guarantee in last week’s 28-6 drubbing at the hands of the Vikings. Daboll called three power runs for Jones, and he even called timeouts to get the ball back for a garbage-time drive, during which Jones took two more hits.

Of course, Daboll is very much on the hot seat, and given that his backup QB is Drew Lock, he has every reason to try to get Jones in a rhythm. But Jones, who completed 22 of 42 passes for 186 yards and two picks in the Minnesota contest, may be running out of time to do that, with ESPN’s Jordan Raanan hearing from multiple sources that the sixth-year passer has lost confidence in himself.

Giants’ Selling Point On Daniel Jones’ 2023 Extension

August 25th, 2024 at 10:59pm CST by Ely Allen

About a year and a half ago, the Giants gave quarterback Daniel Jones a four-year, $160MM extension. While $40MM per year doesn’t sound like top-end NFL passer money right now, at the time, Jones’ new deal tied him for the honor of sixth-highest paid quarterback in the league at that time, per annual average. A recent report from Ryan Dunleavy of the NY Post provided an explanation for why New York was so willing to give Jones his bag.

Per Jones, Giants general manager Joe Schoen claimed this week that part of Jones’ agent’s sales pitch on the contract extension was that, with all the soon-to-come quarterback extensions and free agent deals around the league, Jones’ $40MM per year wouldn’t seem nearly as top dollar as it did at the time. See, when Jones signed his extension, it paired him with playoff contending quarterbacks Dak Prescott and Matthew Stafford in contract length and overall value. The contract also came on the heels of a Derek Carr-signing for four years and $150MM.

At that point in time, Prescott was a Pro Bowler who had shown he was a threat to pass for 4,500 yards in a healthy season and nearly reached 5,000 in 2019. Stafford was pushing into his 15th season and, though he was aging, had just matched a career high with 41 touchdown passes in 2021. Carr didn’t quite have the winning pedigree or statistical production of Prescott or Stafford, but he still threatened for 4,000 passing yards every season, topping out at 4,804 in 2021, and was a three-time Pro Bowler.

Daniel Jones had accomplished none of the above feats. He hadn’t made a Pro Bowl or sniffed a 4,000-yard or 30-touchdown season. He held career highs of 3,205 passing yards and 24 touchdowns. Since his rookie season, he had failed to surpass 15 touchdowns. But timing is everything, and at the time of his contract negotiations, Jones had just led the Giants to their first winning season and playoff appearance with him under center. He had just thrown for his career high in passing yards and led the NFL in interceptions per pass attempt, throwing only five.

These accomplishments hardly seem worth signing Jones to a deal resembling the likes of Prescott and Stafford and surpassing that of Carr, put Jones’ agent pulled out the pitch mentioned above. He convinced Schoen that with the inevitable new contracts for players like Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, Jared Goff, Tua Tagovailoa, Jordan Love, Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow, and others, paying Jones $40MM per year would be a bargain, especially if he could maintain the level of play from his 2022 season.

Unfortunately, the Giants saw Jones only start six games under his new contract before succumbing to a season-ending injury, and those six games did nothing to instill much confidence in Jones making the contract seem like a bargain deal. In six contests, Jones averaged a career-low 152 passing yards per game, only throwing two touchdowns to six interceptions while going 1-5 as a starter. There’s still time for Jones to make a strong comeback from injury and prove he’s at least worth the bargain deal he signed. For now, though, Giants fans find themselves easily getting excited over underdog successes like Drew Lock and Tommy DeVito.

John Mara Expects Giants To Take ‘Big Step Forward’; Owner Remains Onboard With Daniel Jones Plan

August 1st, 2024 at 9:50pm CST by Sam Robinson

Hard Knocks‘ initial offseason project captured the third Joe Schoen–Brian Daboll Giants roster-building effort, with John Mara making some important cameos. After cameras documented the Giants’ free agency period, the Brian Burns trade and the pre-draft buildup, it is safe to say a bigger spotlight will be on the team’s 2024 season.

Mara, who advocated for keeping Saquon Barkley (though, without mandating Schoen make a strong effort to do so) and certainly wanted him to end up outside of Philadelphia, stopped short of requiring his third-year decision-makers steer the team back to the playoffs. But the owner does expect a significant improvement, even after the Barkley and Xavier McKinney defections, this season.

“I expect us to take a big step forward,” Mara said, via the New York Post’s Ryan Dunleavy. “… I obviously want to show significant improvement over last year, but I’m not going to make any specific guarantees or demands or anything like that. They know what I want to see. I have a lot of confidence in this particular team. I think we’ve added some good pieces. Now it’s time to show everybody.”

The Giants finished 6-11 last year, but five of those wins came without Daniel Jones. The starter, who received $81MM guaranteed during an eventful 2023 offseason that involved a Barkley franchise tag, struggled amid a tough early-season schedule. Jones battled a neck injury before his November ACL tear. Fully healthy once again, Jones looks to be going into another “prove it” season. The Giants can escape the contract by taking on only modest dead money by releasing the longtime starter as a post-June 1 cut next year, though Mara remains onboard with the team’s embattled starter.

“I’m still happy we gave him that contract because I thought he played really well for us in 2022,” Mara said (via Dunleavy) of the four-year, $160MM extension authorized in March 2023. “Last year, he got hurt. And let’s be honest: When he was playing, we weren’t blocking anybody. Let’s give him a chance with a better offensive line and some weapons around him to see what he can do.”

Hard Knocks followed the Giants’ rumored plan to trade up for a Jones heir apparent. The Giants attempted to trade Nos. 6 and 47, along with their 2025 first-round pick, to the Patriots for the No. 3 overall draft slot. The Pats passed, rejecting a substantial Vikings offer as well, and chose Drake Maye — whom both NFC teams coveted — to be their hopeful franchise QB. With that off the table, Schoen pivoted to a wide receiver-based strategy in Round 1 by choosing Malik Nabers.

Not impeding Schoen in free agency, Mara was not thrilled about the Barkley conclusion. But the owner’s Jones support — which was a key part of the first Schoen-Daboll offseason back in 2022 — did not prompt him to stand in the way of an attempt to trade up for a passer in the draft. The team’s Plan B unfolding, with Nabers profiling as the highest-ceiling WR option the Giants have rostered during the Jones era, will apply increased pressure on the sixth-year passer.

“I was nervous about giving up too much to go get a quarterback,” Mara said, “but I was prepared to let them do that if that’s what they wanted to do. We made a decision to stay with Daniel and add a weapon for him, and I think that’s going to work out.”

The Athletic’s Dan Duggan notes the owner and his nephew — player personnel director Tim McDonnell — stood as the biggest skeptics of Schoen’s plan to let the two-time Pro Bowl running back walk in free agency (subscription required). Pro scouting director Chris Rossetti also made a minor pitch to apply a second franchise tag, but the Giants passed on the $12MM payment. The Eagles gave Barkley a three-year, $37.5MM payday with $26MM fully guaranteed; the latter figure leads all active RBs.

Mara also confirmed (via Duggan) he sought this offseason Hard Knocks version to avoid cameras following his team at a near-future training camp; after the access the Giants provided, it will be unlikely other teams make a point of doing that. The longtime owner seen his club produce one winning season over the past seven — a surprise 9-7-1 slate that ended in the 2022 divisional round — and no Giants head coach has reached Year 4 since Tom Coughlin. Jones disappointing and Barkley thriving as an Eagle will probably affect Mara’s support for his current decision-makers.

Although the Giants’ roster has some well-paid Dave Gettleman-era draftees as cornerstones, Year 3 features more Schoen imports. It will obviously be a critical year for the regime. The lack of an improvement on last season runs the risk of Schoen and Daboll’s jobs being on the line without the duo having acquired their own quarterback.

Giants’ Daniel Jones Cleared Ahead Of Training Camp

July 24th, 2024 at 8:22am CST by Adam La Rose

JULY 24: Daboll confirmed Wednesday that Jones has received full clearance for camp. Daboll said (via ESPN.com’s Jordan Raanan) the sixth-year quarterback will participate in 11-on-11 drills for the first time this year. Continuing to put to rest any notion of a QB competition, Daboll added Jones will take every snap with the first-team offense during camp.

JULY 21: Daniel Jones has long been expected to be healthy in time for training camp. When providing an update on his health, the sixth-year Giants quarterback confirmed he will be 100% once summer practices commence.

Jones told Peter Botte of the New York Post he “should be” ready in time for Wednesday, the Giants’ first training camp session. The 27-year-old has been rehabbing the ACL tear which ended his 2023 campaign, and he has not endured any setbacks to date. Jones participated in minicamp during the spring, though he did not take part in 11-on-11 drills.

That will of course change once training camp opens. Jones – whose future in New York has been a topic of considerable speculation during the offseason – will work with the first-team offense. Free agent signee Drew Lock is in place as a relatively experienced backup, but head coach Brian Daboll previously made it clear there will be no competition in the summer. Of course, that commitment to Jones will not put to rest concerns over his long-term Giants outlook.

New York was among the teams which made a concerted effort to trade up to the No. 3 slot and select a quarterback in April. To little surprise, Jones was not thrilled with that approach but he enters 2024 with the opportunity to stake his claim to a long-term stay in the Big Apple. Three years remain on the former first-rounder’s deal, though a potential out exists after the coming season.

For that reason, plenty is at stake as Jones prepares for his first campaign without running back Saquon Barkley in the fold. The latter departed in free agency after general manager Joe Schoen and Co. prioritized upgrades along the offensive line and at the skill positions during the offseason. Jones’ health is an area of concern as well given his injury history, but 2024 will at least begin on the right foot in that respect.

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