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Giants QB Daniel Jones Confident He'll Be Ready for Contact By Training Camp

Jones indicated he's still weeks away from being cleared for contact due to a neck injury, but he expressed optimism he'd be ready for the summer.

Despite missing the last six weeks of the regular season due to a neck sprain, New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones is confident that he’ll be ready to rejoin the team as a full participant by this summer.

“I’m doing good,” Jones said when asked Monday how his neck is feeling and whether he had any new updates on his injury status.

“(It’s) progressing, and now there’s a healing process that takes time. So I’m trying to stay diligent with my rehab and treatment and working with the guys here. But everything’s going well, and I’m feeling good.”

With his neck injury suffered in the team’s Week 12 win over the Philadelphia Eagles slow to heal, Jones, who was able to take part in limited, non-contact practice activity, did not receive full clearance to participate in contact activity. He was placed on injured reserve for the season's final three weeks.

Jones, who noted that he wont have to worry about any activities that involve contact, has time on his side, and that in the interim, he can do all the other activities to get ready for the next season. 

“I can do everything from lifting and throwing and running. I’m not limited in those areas,” he said.

The team felt the loss of Jones at quarterback. Over the next six weeks, the Giants went 0-6 and averaged only 9.3 points per game and 116.2 passing yards per game.

Before his injury, the Giants went 4-7 under Jones in 11 starts, scored an average of 18.4 points, and threw for 220.7 passing yards per game. Though they went from bad to worse following Jones’ departure, the Giants' struggles were consistently present throughout the season, ultimately leading to their 4-13 finish.

“I think when you look at the situation, no one expected it to turn out like it did,” Jones said, after being asked why he felt this offense never clicked.

“When you look at what went wrong, I think you have to be smart and how you characterize it. It’s never one thing. You got to look at the picture as a whole and what’s going on. So that’s what we’ll do.

“I think going into this offseason, I certainly take a lot of responsibility in it, and I think each of our guys should. I’m certainly going to do that, and as I said, I take a lot of responsibility in where we are and how we perform. As a group, as individuals as well, we have to analyze that, understand it, study it, and then work to improve and make sure we’re not in that position again going forward.”

As an integral offensive player on this team, Jones certainly does hold a lot of responsibility that he will need to deliver on if this team intends to improve next season.

But the players are by no means alone with shouldering this expectation. The Giants have yet to confirm whether they will bring back Head Coach Joe Judge for another season, though early signs indicate that he will get a third season.

“Yeah, I mean you always hear that kind of speculation, and that’s part of the NFL,” Jones said after he was asked if he experienced any kind of uncertainty about Judge’s status.

“You know you hear that stuff, but as I said, that’s none of our jobs and our job now is to get better and improve as a team.”

If Judge returns, he will have to show he can lead this team and build the chemistry it needs to succeed, which Jones is confident he’ll be able to do with the team if Jones’s own relationship with Judge is any indication.

“I’ve got a great relationship with Joe (Judge), and I’ve learned a lot from him about the game,” Jones said.

“We’ll continue to work and continue to grow in our communication. Obviously, he’s overseeing everything, not necessarily offense or defense. So we work together and work together a lot on some bigger picture things, and I’ve learned a lot from him.”


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