Texas Football: Colt McCoy Talks to Media About Mentoring Daniel Jones During Uncertain Times

The former Longhorn is hoping to share lessons learned over his 10 years in the NFL with the second-year quarterback

Colt McCoy is clearly in the twilight of his NFL career, but the 10-year veteran still has plenty of value not only as a player, but a mentor. 

The son of a high school football coach, McCoy was brought to New York to share the wisdom he's acquired with second-year quarterback Daniel Jones. Jones was the Giants' first-round draft pick last year. He earned the starting nod early in the season and played in 13 games, throwing for 3,027 yards, 24 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. 

Now Jones and his teammates face uncertain times with league facilities shut down amid concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus. While this situation is completely unique and unprecedented, McCoy sees some similarities between it and the labor dispute that shut down offseason contact back in 2011. 

“That was probably the worst thing to happen to me as a young quarterback,’’ McCoy said Wednesday on a conference call, via the New York Post. “I played my rookie year and then we went into the lockout going into my second year. I didn’t get the playbook until we had two or three weeks of training camp. That was the first time I knew anything, and it was a completely new system. I played decent that year, but our team certainly struggled.

“I think I can take some experience and some lessons learned from that and hopefully help Daniel. I think Daniel is prepared for this, he played a lot more his rookie year than I did. There are challenges and it’s a new system, new ways to call plays. A new philosophy in what we are trying to accomplish as an offense. I will really do my best to be a great resource for him.’’

McCoy was impressed with Jones' rookie season and had high praise for his new teammate and protege. 

“I thought he played very well as a rookie last year,’’ McCoy said. “His future is bright, his ceiling is high and he seems like a really great person. He’s obviously very lucky to have a guy like Eli in the quarterback room, a guy I really look up to and respect as a guy who did it right his whole career. I think Daniel knows the importance of a healthy quarterback room. I’ve talked to Daniel since I signed a couple times and just told him how excited I am coming up and learning this new system together. It’s kind of unfortunate the circumstances we are in right now. We have to get creative in ways to learn and grow.’’

It will be interesting to see what McCoy does when his playing days officially come to an end. He seems like a natural to follow his father into the coaching profession. There's also a chance he could turn away from football altogether. His brother Case, also a former starting quarterback at Texas, has gone into the real estate business and currently works as an HPI tenant adviser.