A make-or-break year is upon Daniel Jones. The Giants quarterback must prove he’s the franchise’s future or he’ll be on his way out of East Rutherford. Simple as that.
Jones faces this daunting task with a new head coach in Brian Daboll and a hopefully improved offensive line that added right guard Mark Glowinski, center Jon Feliciano, and rookie right tackle Evan Neal in the offseason.
But even with the new support, Jones’ crucial 2022 won’t be kind to him, according to an NFL offensive coach.
“I think he is a classic case of a guy who didn’t have enough reps coming out and then realizing pretty quickly, ‘Guess what, it is hard to develop quarterback play with a truncated offseason unless you are doing that on your own,'” the anonymous coach told The Athletic, which ranked Jones the 30th-best quarterback in the NFL.
“I think this will be the last season he is a starter and the last season we are talking about him. The same goes for Drew Lock, Mitch Trubisky, all those guys.”
It’s impossible to confirm Jones will be an NFL backup next year. Thanks to unexpected injuries, poor play, and imperfect contract situations, different teams need a new guy under center every offseason. A year ago today, did you think the Seahawks would need a new quarterback for 2022? And did you think the two guys up for the job would be Drew Lock and Geno Smith?
However, it’s hard to imagine Jones being the Giants’ starter after this year. He’ll not only need to make an immense improvement, but the Giants will also need to show they can win with Jones. This is especially the case in an NFC East division that fielded two playoff teams last season. If neither situation occurs, or only one does, general manager Joe Schoen could move on to a quarterback of his choosing, whether that be a 2023 rookie or veteran bridge option (such as Tyrod Taylor).
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