Joe Judge: Daniel Jones Has a Big Personality
On the surface, Giants quarterback Daniel Jones is a quiet, calm, and well-spoken young man who is merely living the dream of being an NFL quarterback in the league’s largest media market.
But lest anyone think that Jones is a replica of the now-retired Eli Manning, a calm personality who seemed to master control of his emotions in public, that’s not exactly the case.
Two weeks ago at the team’s final scrimmage, Jones, the second-year pro, was right in the middle of the team huddle, delivering what appeared to be a fiery pep talk to his teammates, something that during the 16-year tenure of Eli Manning, Jones’ predecessor, never happened.
And Jones, believed to be part of Judge’s leadership council, was voted to his first term as a team captain this week, where he’ll serve with running back Saquon Barkley as the two offensive team captains for the 2020 season.
“I think the thing that sometimes people may miss on Daniel is, you know, he's quiet-natured at times, because he's not just up there spouting out,” said head coach Joe Judge. “He’s not a quiet guy.”
There have been other hints to suggest that Jones isn’t as “quiet” as Manning, who preferred to take more of a watered-down approach to leading by example than being a rah-rah type.
Defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence II, who, as a rookie, was roommates with Jones, revealed that the two would often engage in deep conversation after practice while unwinding.
Lawrence has also hinted that Jones is far from being the shrinking violet that his public persona would suggest.
Judge agreed.
“Daniel has a very big personality. He's a great dude. And I think until you spend a lot of time with him, you can miss that depth of him as a person,” Judge said. “So that's been a really pleasant surprise. I always knew he was intelligent. I knew he was very respectful, and he was a hard worker, but until we really got time to be with each other in person and spend a training camp together, you don't really see all those layers of people.”
Historically, head coaches and quarterbacks are joined at the hip, mainly because as the quarterback's success goes, so too does the success of the head coach and the team.
Judge, who stressed that it’s important for a head coach to have a relationship with every player on the roster, agreed that there is merit to the belief that the head coach and quarterback are tied to one another.
“I think absolutely. There's a lot of merit to what you just asked--the quarterback and head coach have to be able to talk,” he said.
“Him being one of our captains obviously puts him in a position that we're going to have a lot of conversations, not only involving football, but involving all aspects of the program. So that should open the platform to him and myself to talk a lot throughout the weeks.”
