QB Daniel Jones Will Be Starter Once Healthy, Says Brian Daboll

Daboll threw his support behind Daniel Jones, who is working diligently to be ready for the start of the 2024 season.

New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll, making his first public comments since his season-ending joint press conference with general manager Joe Schoen told NFL Network reporter Tom Pelissero ahead of the league’s annual meetings that the team intends to stick with quarterback Daniel Jones once he gets the green light to return from a torn ACL.

“Again, excited to get Daniel back,” Daboll said Saturday. “When he gets back, he'll be the guy."

Daboll didn’t want to commit to a timeframe for Jones’s return and didn’t provide much of an update as to where the quarterback was in the process other than to say that Jones was continuing to improve. The hope is that Jones will be ready for Week 1 of the 2024 season, but with that not being a certain thing, Giants general manager Joe Schoen told reporters at the end of last season that the team wanted to have a veteran on board who, if they needed him to go in to play until Jones was ready, was capable of winning some games.

The Giants, who had Tyrod Taylor as their backup quarterback the last two years, lost him to the New York Jets, their crosstown rivals. The Giants had an exploratory meeting with quarterback Russell Wilson before he signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers, reportedly conveying to Wilson that they were sticking with Jones, who enters Year 2 of his four-year contract signed last off-season, as their starter.

Drew Lock

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With Wison wanting a starting job, the Giants pivoted to veteran quarterback Drew Lock, formerly of the Seattle Seahawks. Unlike Wilson, Lock was okay with Jones starting ahead of him and told reporters during his introductory video call that the big draw in coming to the Giants was a chance to work on his craft under Daboll's watchful eye.

"We're excited to have Drew, and he knows what his role is going to be," Daboll said. "He's going to get a lot of reps this spring; he needs to learn our system.”

While there have been reports of Jones possibly getting approval to partake in limited individual drills when OTAs open in May, the team is likely to play it cautiously with their projected starter. General manager Joe Schoen has also not ruled out selecting a quarterback for next month’s draft, as the team reportedly has concerns about Jones’s injury history, which includes two neck ailments in the last three years.

However, the Giants and Jones have time on their side regarding Jones's rehab, given the presence of Lock and second-year man Tommy DeVito on the roster. If they add a quarterback in next month’s draft, that should complete the room for the immediate future.

Speaking of the future, Daboll is eager to get things rolling following a disappointing 6-11 season. He revealed that the team’s brass evaluated their processes extensively to find better ways to ensure success.

“You certainly want to have a better record than we had last year, so there's no stone unturned," Daboll said. "Done a lot of research, met with a lot of different people, trying to grow and develop, do a lot of different things in terms of procedure, process, player evaluations, scheme evaluation, decision-making, leadership."

The Giants head coach also said he’s excited about the team's new additions, the most notable of which is edge rusher Brian Burns, whom the Giants acquired via trade from the Carolina Panthers.

Brian Burns

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"Yeah, give a lot of credit to Joe and his staff for getting that done," Daboll said. "[Burns is] a good player, a good acquisition, a good trade for us, happy to have him. He's been a productive guy at Carolina, doing all the research on the player and, more importantly, the person. He's the right kind of guy, and we're excited to have him."

In addition to Burns, the Giants added offensive linemen Jermaine Eluemunor and Jon Runyan Jr and running back Devin Singletary to the club.

"I'm excited about some of the pieces we have, and we've got to build a team," Daboll said. "There's a long way from now until September, so we'll give everything we've got to improve, as a coaching staff, as an organization, as players. ... April 15, when the guys get back, it can't come soon enough."

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