Giants Player Profile | Daniel Jones, QB

2019 Season Rewind

As the sixth overall selection in the 2019 NFL Draft, Daniel Jones did not receive the warmest of welcomes to the New York Giants. Many draft experts and figures in the media called the pick a reach, claiming Jones did not project as a top-10 quarterback, and many fans weren't enamored with the selection.

Slowly, Jones began to change people's minds. As a three-year letterman and two-year team captain at Duke, Jones didn't have a surrounding cast of premier college football talent, nor did he put up gleaming top-prospect statistics throwing for 42 touchdowns and 29 interceptions in three seasons.

But a mutual mentor with Eli Manning through Duke head coach David Cutcliffe, Manning's coach at Ole Miss, might have given the Giants hope that they were getting a quarterback cut from the same cloth as Manning.

The narrative of Jones' being a reach began to shift in training camp as he impressed both on the field and off, showing off NFL passing accuracy in practice and handling the media spotlight.

Jones's preseason performance put him in the conversation to start as soon as in Week 1 for the Giants. Jones completed 29 of 34 passes for 416 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions in four preseason appearances.

While the veteran Manning got the starting nod for the first two regular-season games, Jones did make his debut in garbage time of a Week 1 blowout loss in Dallas, completing three of four passes for 17 yards and committing a fumble to end the game.

Two weeks later, with the Giants at 0-2, then-head coach Pat Shurmur started the clock on the Jones era. In the rookie's first start, he led an 18-point second-half comeback against Tampa Bay, completing 23 of 36 passes for 336 yards, two passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns to etch out a dramatic 32-31 victory and NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors.

After one start, Jones became a favorite to win offensive rookie of the year, but the rest of his first season didn't go quite the same way after that.

Jones did earn a second win in a lesser performance against Washington the next week, but after that, the Giants would hit the skids with a nine-game losing streak.

Jones only started eight of those nine games before missing two games with an ankle injury. It was an inconsistent stretch for Jones as he threw for 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions with an NFL rating that ranged from 124.2 to 35.2 on any given week.

After missing two games with a high ankle sprain, Jones made his return from injury in Week 16 in Washington and reminded Giants fans of his heroics in Week 3 by engineering his best game as a pro.

He threw for 352 yards a career-high five touchdowns, including a game-winner to tight end Kaden Smith in overtime to avoid a last-place finish in the NFC East.

Jones and the Giants finished the season with another loss, however, falling to the Philadelphia Eagles 34-17 at home in a fourth-quarter collapse in what would be Manning's final game and Pat Shurmur's final as Giants head coach.

Looking Ahead

Like many quarterbacks before him, Jones thrived in Shurmur's offense, but now he has to learn a new system run by former Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett.

That system will be more based on the Air Coryell concepts, or vertical passing game, a concept for which Jones should be a good fit given his size, arm strength, and accuracy.

He's been working on the ball security issues--a huge deal as if he's going to develop a better feel for the pocket, he better make sure he keeps both hands on the ball.

If there is one trait that Jones possesses that could work in his favor under Garrett, it's his ability to create plays off-script. Jones also showed an ability to find the soft spots in zone coverage band his mental processing before and after the snap was surprisingly sound for a rookie quarterback, a testament to Jones' in-depth preparation he puts himself through every week.

Jones' ideal size, accuracy, and mobility make for a quarterback with a potentially higher ceiling. However, there are glaring mistakes Jones exhibited as a rookie that should be prioritized moving forward.

Jones led the NFL in fumbles (18) and fumbles lost (11) as a rookie and, at times, seemed oblivious to the pocket collapsing around him. The Giants front office has done their part to help Jones with the drafting of Georgia offensive tackle Andrew Thomas.

This year, Jones will go into 2020 with better chemistry with his skill players and, hopefully, a strong understanding of what Garrett is looking for, which will allow him to play fast.

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