Daniel Jones says he will be ready to play.
The Giants are betting he’ll play a lot better.
After the neck injury that sidelined him for the last six games of last season, Jones expects to “feel good” with on-field practice later this month and receive medical clearance for contact when hitting quarterbacks in to resume at the August preseason games.
“Yes, I am free and ready to go,” Jones said Monday as the team’s voluntary offseason training program began.
After a promising rookie season, Jones has declined for the past two seasons as an over-commitment to ball safety seemed to weaken his aggressiveness. But his critics’ eyes opened up when a stagnant offense (18.4 points per game) became dysfunctional in his absence (9.3).
“I take full responsibility for how I played and we didn’t win enough games,” said Jones, who is 12-25 in the starting XI. “We didn’t score enough points. We didn’t do things well enough. I take responsibility for that. As a quarterback, you play a big part in these things. So that’s what I’m concentrating on. I’m working on improving myself and making sure that myself, the offense and the team are ready to play every day.”
Daniel Jones, Getty Images
Giants co-owner John Mara, general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll have all expressed their confidence in Jones as a starter entering his fourth season. Tyrod Taylor (2 years, $11 million) and Davis Webb replaced Mike Glennon and Jake Fromm as top backups.
True feelings will be revealed by May 2 — the deadline for the Giants to decide whether to exercise Jones’ fifth-year contract option for $22.4 million, fully guaranteed. From a salary cap perspective, that doesn’t make much sense, especially given the issues the Panthers and Browns now have with Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield, respectively. The franchise tag provides a safety net if Jones breaks out and gets a huge contract.
“There’s going to be a time and place for those talks, so we’ll see,” Jones said. “We’ll take care of that when the time comes, but I’m focused on what we’re doing here.”
For the third time in his fledgling career, Jones is learning a whole new offensive game, which prompted Mara to state, “We did everything we could to screw this kid up” earlier this offseason. The Giants face top quarterbacks in the draft, but that’s mostly due diligence.
“I’m looking forward to getting started here and appreciate the support,” Jones said.
The new offense ideally evolves into a hybrid between what Daboll brings with him from the Bills and what offensive coordinator Mike Kafka inherits from the Chiefs. These two high-scoring teams played one of the best games in NFL history during the playoffs.
“You watch a lot of these playoff games for these two teams and try to pick up on little things, but [not the same] until you’re really in the system, learning from the coaches and listening to them talk it through,” Jones said. “We’re not quite there yet, so I’m looking forward to that bit of it.
Daniel Jones Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
“As everyone can see, these offenses scored a lot of points, created a lot of explosive plays and had a lot of success. Dabes said we’re going to build it around the people here, the skills that we have and what they’re good at.”
Monday was the first day players received playbooks and iPads loaded with movies. Daboll’s spring checklist for Jones includes communicating effectively in the scrum, reading teammates’ body language, offering input on attack design, and making the right decisions in various simulated situations. It doesn’t include pretending to be Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes.
“As a player, you never want to get into a situation where you’re trying to be someone else, or doing things that you’re not, or comparing yourself to certain situations,” Jones said. “Any player in any position in any sport, I think that’s when you get in trouble.”