For all the people that have ever wanted to hate on us and absolutely roast us, this series is for you. Where We Stand is our newest series where we put in writing exactly what we think about a certain player, coach, situation, etc. Think of this as a way for you all to catalog our takes and throw them in our faces later if we’re wrong. We’re gonna start with the most polarizing player for the New York Giants fan base in 2021: Daniel Jones.
Dan: There’s a lot of reasons why l don’t think Daniel Jones is a franchise quarterback but the main reason is that he lacks a top ten ceiling. He always has. Nothing he’s done in the first two seasons of his career have shown otherwise.
The purpose of a team’s quarterback is to be a big reason your team wins a championship. Daniel Jones will likely never be THE reason. He will just be someone along for the ride.
Can you honestly ever see a universe in which Daniel Jones takes on Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, or Josh Allen in the Super Bowl and wins?
I can’t. Anyone who says they can is lying to themselves.
Verdict: The best case scenario for Daniel Jones at this point is Kirk Cousins. The more likely scenario is that he is a low level starter for a few more seasons before becoming a journeyman backup.
When it comes to Daniel Jones, I’m out.
Matt: Through two years, Daniel Jones hasn’t given us a whole lot to be confident about. He’s 8-18, with no wins against any respectable opponents, and he has 39 turnovers (22 INTs and 17 fumbles) in 27 games. That gunslinger mentality that we saw his rookie season completely faded away in year 2 and with it, so did my belief that he could have serious upside as an NFL QB.
My fear with Daniel Jones isn’t that he’ll be really bad in 2021. I’m afraid he’ll show us just enough to make us think he still develop into a franchise QB but not nearly enough for us to have any confidence that he’ll become one. We’ll be exactly where we are right now a year from now. Not knowing if your QB is “the guy” is one of the worst places to be in the NFL. Most of the time you waste years on player without him ever taking the next step forward (see Dalton, Andy and Carr, Derek).
Verdict: Daniel Jones still has potential to be “win with” QB but he’s not a franchise carrying QB. My original evaluation of Daniel Jones during the 2019 draft process was that Jones was very similar to Ryan Tannehill. I’m sticking with that. He’s going to put out what you put in. Give him a great supporting offensive line and supporting cast to lean on and you’ll get great play. Daniel Jones just isn’t going to elevate the players around him, and generally you need a guy that can in order to consistently win in this league.
It’s still too early to completely write Jones off but it’s okay to have serious doubt about his future as the Giants signal caller. I personally don’t feel comfortable with Jones at the helm of the franchise heading into 2021. If Daniel Jones doesn’t take a massive step forward in 2021 than we know exactly what we have and it’ll be time to move on.
We discussed Daniel Jones, Joe Judge, and Dave Gettleman more in depth in our State of the Franchise podcast below.
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“Where We Stand” is a series where we tell you all exactly where we’re at on a litany of sports topics. Think of this as a way for you all to catalog our takes and throw them in our faces later if we’re wrong.
How well did Mahomes play in the Super Bowl with two backups protecting him…? You can’t evaluate Jones with the worst offensive line in football.
Are either of you old enough to remember the first few years of Phil Simms career? I am, and it was pretty dismal. Obviously, it’s a different game than it was in 1979 through 1981, but I don’t understand why everyone is so doom and gloom on Jones. The team lost four games last year by 4 or fewer points, and the game they lost to the Rams 17-9 they were in the thick of it with 2:00 to go. If the Giants ended up 8-8 or 10-6 last year would we be debating this? Of course not. The injuries to the OL have me concerned, but other than that, I’m thinking it could be a very good year.