Keeping Up With the Joneses

As the 2022 offseason continues, the path the New York Giants plan on taking in their quarterback situation does not seem to be in question.   All reports seem to point at them sticking with their fourth-year guy in Daniel Jones, and for the first time in quite a while I think the front office is making a good decision.

            While by no means was Daniel Jones’s 2021 campaign anything to write home about, it was both clearly better than the other QB’s the Giants trotted out and showed improvement in the thing he needed to fix most – turnovers.

            Through 11 games last season Daniel Jones only had 10 turnovers (seven INT’s and three fumbles lost).  One of his Interceptions, the one against the Saints, was also a hail mary.  Comparing the turnover numbers to his other two seasons, 16 in 2020 and 23 in 2019, he has cut down drastically on turnovers.

            All this is without even mentioning how absolutely atrocious the Giants offense looked when Daniel Jones was not on the field.  The Giants had a grand total of zero wins without Daniel Jones this season, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why.  In the 11 games with Daniel Jones the Giants average points per game was an admittingly bad 18.4, but without him it plummeted down to 9.3.  That’s right, Daniel Jones accounted for almost 10 whole points in a Giants offense that was anemic almost all season. 

            All signs point to Daniel Jones only improving with every season he plays, and with an especially weak college quarterback class this offseason, it just doesn’t make sense for them to draft a replacement with so many other glaring needs. 

            With the best QB in this draft cycle seemingly being Pitt’s Kenny Pickett who I think is at best, just a small step better than what Jones is right now. 

This draft class is also chalk full of high-end talent on the offensive line and all over the defense, positions the Giants desperately need to upgrade at.

            “But Jeremy,” I hear you say, “just go trade for one of the many veteran quarterbacks that are supposed to be available this offseason.”  To that I would say, that’s dumb.  Giving up the assets that would be needed for a QB trade like one or multiple first round picks this year only hurts them in the long run.  The Giants aren’t a team that is a quarterback away from winning a super bowl.

            With the state of the team, the prospects in the draft, and with Daniel Jones’s impact on their offense, it makes the most sense to keep him on for one more season and re-evaluate after that.