Daniel Jones took off with nothing but open field in front of him during a 2020 game against the Philadelphia Eagles. The deceptive speed that has made the New York Giants quarterback an effective runner allowed him to increase the distance from pursuing defenders. Then, as Jones neared the goal line for an 88-yard touchdown, he inexplicably stumbled.
With a national audience watching on “Thursday Night Football”, Jones started to lose his footing at Philadelphia’s 30-yard line. He tumbled to the ground and was tackled by an Eagles defender at the 8-yard line, to the disbelief of everyone watching.
With Jones’ benching signaling the end of his six-year run as the Giants’ starting quarterback, that play perfectly encapsulated his tenure. A flicker of promise but, ultimately, a disappointing result.
DANIEL JONES. 80-YARD RUN.
📺: #NYGvsPHI on NFLN/FOX/PRIME VIDEO
📱: https://t.co/W5bCPYgMfo pic.twitter.com/zI1GumCyn0— NFL (@NFL) October 23, 2020
The unofficial end of Jones’ reign came Monday when a source confirmed an NFL Network report that Jones is being benched. This move was inevitable after the Giants’ embarrassing 20-17 overtime loss to the Panthers in Germany in Week 10. Jones’ poor play was a major reason the Giants couldn’t score against the NFL’s worst defense.
With the 2-8 Giants on their bye week, this was the logical time for a quarterback change to give backup Tommy DeVito — who was chosen over No. 2 QB Drew Lock — time to prepare to take over. The Giants went 3-13 in games started by Jones over the past two seasons, and they rank last in the league in scoring this season. His career record is 24-44-1.
The official end of Jones’ time with the Giants will come sometime after the season when the team releases him two years into the four-year, $160 million extension he signed in 2023. Jones, 27, will look to revitalize his career in a new setting, while the Giants will earnestly pursue a replacement this offseason.
Giants fans booed after the team drafted Jones with the No. 6 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. (Michael Wade / Icon Sportswire)
The boos rained down at the draft party hosted by the Giants at MetLife Stadium when Jones was announced as the sixth pick in the 2019 draft. Factors outside of Jones’ control led to the chilly greeting from the fan base.
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There was little faith in then-general manager Dave Gettleman, with many believing it was a reach to take Jones with a top-10 pick after he compiled a 17-19 record at Duke. But Jones won over fans, teammates and the rest of the organization in Week 3 of his rookie season when he replaced franchise icon Eli Manning as the starting quarterback.
Jones engineered an 18-point second-half comeback in Tampa Bay, throwing for two touchdowns and rushing for two more, including the game-winner with 1:16 remaining. But the swagger Jones showed in his debut was fleeting.
Fielding a woeful supporting cast around Jones, the Giants lost nine straight games during his rookie season. Still, he demonstrated playmaking ability under coach Pat Shurmur while throwing 24 touchdown passes, which remains the highwater mark of his career by a wide margin.
Shurmur was fired after Jones’ rookie season and replaced by Joe Judge. He and offensive coordinator Jason Garrett focused on eliminating Jones’ ball security issues after he had an NFL-high 19 fumbles as a rookie. In the process, they eliminated the young quarterback’s aggressiveness.
Jones cut back on his turnovers at the expense of throwing the ball downfield. He combined for 21 touchdown passes in two seasons under Judge and Garrett. The second season was cut short due to a neck injury that sidelined Jones for the final six games in 2021.
The coaching changes, a perennially poor offensive line and a lack of playmakers led Giants co-owner John Mara to proclaim after the 2021 season that, “We’ve done everything possible to screw this kid up.”
Jones received a clean slate when Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll replaced Gettleman and Judge, respectively, after the 2021 season. One of the new regime’s first major decisions was declining Jones’ fifth-year option for the 2023 season. That set up the 2022 season as a prove-it year for Jones.
He rose to the occasion. Using his legs more than ever, Jones engineered an efficient offense that relied on running back Saquon Barkley and opportunistic passing.
Jones still only threw for 15 touchdowns, but he added another seven rushing to lead the Giants to a surprising 9-7-1 record and their first playoff appearance in six years. Once in the postseason, Jones raised his game to an inconceivable level in a 31-24 wild-card round win at Minnesota.
The performance was treated as vindication for Mara, who declared, “We’re back,” in the victorious locker room. The mood was far more somber a week later when the Giants were steamrolled 38-7 by the Eagles in the divisional round.
Despite the bitter end to the season, the optimism about Jones within the organization was unbridled. Schoen affirmed that Jones, who was set to be an unrestricted free agent, would be back with the Giants in his season-ending news conference days after the loss to the Eagles.
That wasn’t a simple process, as Schoen tried to simultaneously negotiate with Jones and Barkley during the 2023 offseason. When Barkley wasn’t receptive to the Giants’ initial extension offers, Schoen turned his focus to Jones.
Not forgetting the fifth-year option slight, which would have locked Jones in at $22.4 million for 2023, the quarterback drove a hard bargain at the negotiating table. With talks coming down to the franchise tag deadline, the Giants and Jones agreed to a four-year, $160 million extension. The Giants immediately pivoted to tagging Barkley minutes before the deadline.
If there’s one decision Schoen could do over in his three years, it has to be that one. Rather than giving in to Barkley with a contract worth roughly $25 million guaranteed, Schoen wound up guaranteeing $82 million to Jones. Schoen was mindful of maintaining an escape hatch, however, so the Giants can cut Jones after two seasons while eating a manageable $22.2 million in dead money on the salary cap.
The worst fears of committing to Jones were realized immediately during a disastrous 2023 season. Jones went 1-5 in six starts while suffering a second neck injury that sidelined him for three games before a torn ACL in his right knee ended his season in Week 9.
With buyer’s remorse established, Schoen and Daboll extensively scouted a potential replacement in the 2024 draft. The problem was that the Giants were picking sixth and the teams with the top three picks desperately needed quarterbacks.
Schoen tried in vain to trade with the Patriots for the third pick, but New England took North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye. With Maye, USC’s Caleb Williams and LSU’s Jayden Daniels off the board, the Giants chose not to take a quarterback.
It marked the fifth straight draft since Jones was selected that the Giants didn’t add a quarterback. Instead, they used the sixth pick on LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers in the hopes that the dynamic playmaker could help unlock Jones in another make-or-break year.
Nabers has flashed his talent, but it hasn’t made a difference. Jones has proven incapable of leading a high-octane offense.
The breaking point came in Munich. Jones threw two interceptions in the red zone to kill scoring drives. His most egregious play, however, was taking a sack on a flea flicker despite Nabers and wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson running wide open on the trick play.
There’s financial incentive to sit Jones, who has made $108 million in his career, because he has a $23 million injury guarantee in his contract. If he suffers a major injury that will prevent him from passing a physical in mid-March, the Giants will be on the hook for $12 million. Another $11 million would become guaranteed at the start of next season. The savings from cutting Jones this offseason would be wiped out if the injury guarantee was triggered.
The injury guarantee is a valid reason to bench Jones, especially as he has repeatedly rammed himself into defenders on runs this season. But finances aside, the Giants simply couldn’t trot Jones out again in front of a hostile home crowd that has seen the team lose all five of its games at MetLife Stadium this season.
The Giants can no longer afford to take the financial risk of playing Jones. (Cooper Neill / Getty Images)
No one has ever questioned Jones’ intangibles. He’s tough, hard-working and an exemplary teammate.
Jones is cut from the same cloth as Manning, down to having the same personal quarterback trainer and college coach. But for all of the similarities between the quarterbacks, Jones lacks the traits that made Manning one of the best big-game quarterbacks of his era.
Jones seemed too determined to copy Manning’s ability to sidestep controversy in the New York media market. Perhaps being wound so tight can explain why Jones performed so much worse at home — 29 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in 35 career home games compared to 41 touchdowns and 17 interceptions in 35 career road games.
The Giants scored a touchdown three plays after Jones’ meme-worthy stumble four years ago, and they were in position for a rare win at Philadelphia late in the game when he floated a pass to tight end Evan Engram. A catch could have sealed the win; instead, the perfect pass slipped through Engram’s fingertips.
Jones’ stumble and Engram’s drop were representative of this forgettable six-year period. The failures weren’t all Jones’ fault, but he also wasn’t able to overcome the circumstances around him.
So Jones’ time is up in New York. The Giants are now on the clock to get it right on their next swing at a quarterback.
(Photo illustrations: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; top photo: Cooper Neill / Getty Images)
