Daniel Jones Emphasizing Ball Security in Second NFL Season

Daniel Jones knows his ball security issues from last year are unacceptable. Here's what he's doing to eradicate it.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

If nothing else, Giants quarterback Daniel Jones knows that in his upcoming season, he cannot turn the ball over the way he did as a rookie.

Jones was charged with 18 fumbles last season, 11 of which he lost. Many of those fumbles were a result of Jones’ failure to keep two hands on the ball when either in the pocket or when he was on the move. Jones has been trying to train himself to pain more attention to that detail this off-season.

“That's a fundamental skill at the quarterback position,” he said of ball security during a video conference call with reporters. “That's crucial. But it's also a fairly simple fix and that it's mindfulness to being intentional to securing the ball and having two hands on it.”

Jones, who has been riding out the COVID-19 pandemic at his parents’ home in North Carolina, has done work this off-season with a quarterbacks coach to get into the habit of keeping both hands on the ball.

“He’s someone who helps me with that,” Jones said. “We've talked about it a lot, and he'll make sure I'm staying on top of that. I'm trying to simulate things that will happen in the game, so when you're moving, when you have to adjust in the pocket, you're, you're maintaining that security.

“I'm just trying to try and emphasize that doing different drills and making sure that I'm always cognizant of that.”

In addition to fixing the flaws in his game, Jones is on his second offense in as many NFL seasons, this one by former Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett.

“There are some similarities,” Jones said of the offense Garrett has been installing versus what he ran last year under Pat Shurmur and Mike Shula. “I think when you look at, at any offense, there'll be similarities but also a lot of differences.”

The good news is that Jones said that despite the differences, he has already found comparisons to what he used to run to help expedite his learning.

In addition to finding ways to bridge the gap, Jones said he’s been taking advantage of having Cooper Rush, whom the Giants acquired off waivers from the Cowboys and who knows Garrett’s system, in the virtual meeting room.

“Yeah, he's been great to have in the room so far,” Jones said. “You know, he's been in the system for a number of years and understands it well. So you know, he's able to answer a lot of our questions and kind of speed up that learning process.”

As Jones learns the new system, he grows more and more excited to run it.

"The biggest thing is that it's been successful. It's scored a lot of points and, gained a lot of yards," he said. 

"When you look at it guys have been successful, and I think that's the biggest thing.  I feel like we have, we have a lot of guys that can make plays. So I think you'll see that in the system like you've seen in the past.