New York Giants QB Daniel Jones on Track to Start vs. Cardinals

Things look promising for Daniel Jones to be back after missing one game due to a strained right hamstring.

New York Giants starting quarterback Daniel Jones is on track to start Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals barring anything unexpected arising between Saturday night and Sunday pre-game, a source confirms the report, as first noted by The Athletic.

Jones, listed as questionable on this week's injury report, was injured two weeks ago I the third quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals. He tried to return to the game after missing a couple of snaps but was unable to do so and was relieved by Colt McCoy the rest of the way.

Last week, head coach Joe Judge revealed that Jones had lobbied hard to play against the Seahawks, but the head coach decided to protect Jones from himself after the quarterback was mostly limited in practice. McCoy got the start and did just enough in leading the team to its fourth win in a row.

This week, Jones saw more snaps during the practice week, including upping his workload from limited to full from Thursday to Friday, an encouraging sign.

That timing aligned with Judge’s desire to arrive at a decision, as he told reporters before Friday’s practice, “In a perfect world I’d like to make the decision before game day. I’d like to know (Friday night), at the latest. For myself. If we have to go into it tomorrow and do something more with the trainers, so be it. But, I normally don’t like to do things like that with guys on Saturday.”

Judge has insisted all alone that Jones needed to show that he can defend himself if he is reinserted into the lineup.

“I want to make sure that when his natural instincts kick in as a player, that he’s not limited somehow physically or someone has an advantage over him on the field,” Judge explained when asked what he needed to see to be convinced of Jones’s ability to defend himself.

“He has to be able to have some kind of mobility," Judge said. "Just sidestep the hit, step up in the pocket, escape pressure and throw the ball away. I have to make sure we do the right thing by him of making sure we don’t put him out there on the field where he can’t do that, he’s just a sitting duck.”

The Giants host the Arizona Cardinals at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:05 PM. 

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