A year after criticizing the New York Giants for taking Daniel Jones with the No. 6 pick, Chris Simms praised the young quarterback.
The New York Giants caught a significant amount of heat when they selected quarterback Daniel Jones with the No. 6 pick in the 2019 draft.
Chris Simms of NBC Sports was one who didn’t exactly agree with the selection. When Jones was taken, Simms was outwardly very critical of the pick and even compared him to Dave Brown, a former Duke quarterback who the Giants chose with their first-round pick in the 1992 supplemental draft. Brown conjured up a 23-30 record as a starter through six seasons with Big Blue.
But recently, Simms took back his criticism of Jones on Pro Football Talk Live.
“Yes, I crapped on him during the draft process and he crapped on me repeatedly during the 2019 season and said, ‘you’re wrong, Chris Simms.’ And I am. I was wrong. I misevaluated him in the draft,” he said.
He continued by saying, “Listen, I’m not going to lie. I fell into a trap that I told myself I wouldn’t fall into before…”
“A little bit like Dak Prescott where I put some of the struggles of the team and the offense and Daniel Jones maybe not being the sexiest guy to watch at times.
“I put all of those problems on him and that wasn’t fair coming out of Duke.
“What we saw last year was a guy that was thrown into the lineup and from day one, the running game’s not great, Saquon Barkley is not 100%, we don’t have a ton of talent at receiver. But Daniel, we’d like you to carry the offense.
“He had some really bright moments last year.”
It’s difficult to blame Simms for his initial disapproval of the Jones pick, considering it came as a surprise to many.
Even though he had his fair share of rookie-year issues, Jones surprised most and showed that he may very well be capable of holding the Giants’ starting quarterback job for years to come.
Throughout his first season in the NFL, Jones racked up 3,027 yards and 24 touchdowns through the air, having completed 61.9% of his throws through 13 games (12 starts).