Giants Roster Rebuilding Season: Quarterbacks

We kick off our series on how we would rebuild the Giants roster for the 2020 season with a look at the quarterbacks.

When the Giants drafted Daniel Jones, they likely hoped to implement the full "Kansas City model" in which Jones was supposed to sit for an entire season to learn the intricacies of the NFL game from Eli Manning.

That, of course, didn't happen as the decision was made to throw Jones into the deep end and let him sink or swim on his own.

For the most part, Jones swam, but he has a ways to go before he is advanced. The good news is that the Giants' decision to play him behind a relatively young team that likely wasn't going to compete for anything in 2019 allowed him to gain valuable experience.

But with all that said, the quarterback position is headed for some significant changes as the room will now be built more around Jones than the now-retired Eli Manning.

QUARTERBACKS

Starter: Daniel Jones (2nd season)
Backups: Alex Tanney
Priority Level: Urgent

The Giants have committed to Daniel Jones for better or for worse after a decent rookie season, which was primarily devoted to getting his feet wet at the NFL level. And overall, there was a lot to like about Jones and the work he did.

Then there were the intangibles. Whereas some young quarterbacks would fall apart at the seams at the first sign of adversity, Jones bounced back up every time he as knocked down with even more pep to his step and an even more visible streak of determination to come out on top. Indeed, Jones’ mental toughness was a wonderful development in a game where quite often players need to adjust on the fly.

Countdown to September starts now ‼️ pic.twitter.com/mDbfUvL2hU

— New York Giants (@Giants) February 3, 2020

With all that said, the Giants need for Jones to take the next step in his development. He’ll need to cut down on his turnovers, perhaps the most glaring of his performance deficiencies from his rookie season.

Then there is the mental processing part of his game, which needs to take a significant step forward. According to PFF’s Quarterbacks Annual, Jones went with his first read on 67% of his pass attempts. That might have been by design to allow Jones to acclimate to the speed of the game.

If one looks at the high profile quarterbacks around the league who have failed to take that all-important step forward in their second and third seasons, often that’s been a result of not becoming proficient in reading defenses.

Beyond Jones, the Giants have no other quarterbacks under contract as Alex Tanney will be an unrestricted free agent, and Eli Manning has retired. 

Although the Giants finally hired a dedicated quarterbacks coach (Jerry Schuplinski) to work with Jones, and will also have former NFL quarterback Jason Garrett as their offensive coordinator, the Giants would be doing Jones a big favor if they brought in a veteran presence to serve as yet another sounding board for the youngster.

Behind Jones is Alex Tanney (6-foot-3, 208 pounds, 32 years old), who was cut by the team last year and then brought back.   

The downside is Tanney’s experience is limited—he’s only attempted 15 passes in his NFL career. If Jones, who as a rookie had to miss two games with an ankle injury, develops issues with his durability, the Giants are probably going to want someone on the roster with a little more experience than that.

Free Agent Possibilities

Trevor Siemian, 6-foot-3, 220 pounds, 28 years old

Siemian, who appeared in just one game last year with the Jets before suffering a season-ending ankle injury, hasn’t had meaningful NFL snaps since 2017 when, while with Denver, he appeared in 11 games (10 as a starter) in which he completed 206 of 349 pass attempts for 2,285 yards, 12 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions that season.

Siemian doesn’t have as strong of an arm as does Jones, but he has had some success with the deep ball. His career accuracy has hovered just under 60%, but that percentage takes a significant dip. In 2017, Siemian’s accuracy percentage was at 67.5 when he wasn’t under pressure and 38.8% when he was not.

Draft Possibilities

It would be a stunning upset if the Giants used a draft pick on a young quarterback for developmental purposes. Teams have been trying for years to catch lightning in a bottle like the Patriots did with Jimmy Garoppolo, but the Giants' focus needs to be squarely on developing Daniel Jones at the position right now.

That’s not to say that the Giants shouldn’t bring in a young quarterback to compete for a roster spot. But given the numerous holes on the roster, wasting a Day 3 draft pick is not the best use of draft resources, not when an undrafted free agent can serve the same purpose.