New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones is entering his fourth year in the NFL under his third different head coach, fourth different offensive coordinator and learning his third offensive system.
That kind of change is not conducive to success but with each passing day, the 25-year-old says he’s becoming more and more comfortable.
“I’m getting more comfortable every day,” Jones told reporters on Friday. “We’re still early in the process. We’ve got a lot of work to do. That’s certainly my mindset, I think that’s coach (Brian) Daboll’s mindset and the whole group’s mindset. We’ve got a lot of work to do and we’re eager to do it. I’m comfortable and continuing to work to get more comfortable.”
Over the previous two practices, Jones did appear a lot more comfortable and the results spoke to that. However, he appeared to take a step backwards during Friday night’s Fan Fest scrimmage. In fact, the entire offense did.
“I thought he operated well,” head coach Brian Daboll said of Jones. “Again, I’m sure there are plays he would’ve wanted back, but I thought he did a good job with his decision-making process. Made some good throws. But certainly a lot to work on.”
Jones nearly tossed a pick-6 right out of the gate, but the ball was dropped by cornerback Adoree’ Jackson. There were other questionable passes mixed in, but it’s fair to note the Giants had not game-planned nor were they running their full offense.
Still, Jones needs to show more consistency if he’s going to win over the fans, who are already calling for Tyrod Taylor to start. But those calls will continue to fall on deaf ears. Jones is going to start barring injury.
“I think I’m a better player than in years past. I feel more comfortable from that standpoint in what I’m seeing and diagnosing what I’m seeing and making decisions,” Jones said. “As it relates to this offense and this scheme, it gives a quarterback a lot of options, and it allows for a quarterback to use what he knows and distribute the ball based on that.
“I’ve enjoyed working in this offense so far, and like I said, we’ve got a lot of work to do. It’s been fun working with Coach Daboll and his staff and working in this offense.”
Despite Jones’ inconsistency, he still has the respect and support of his teammates. Like many others, they seem to recognize that the deck has been stacked against him.
“It’s his third offense in how many years, it’s year four or something like that,” running back Saquon Barkley said. “I would say he’s coming in every single day trying to get better. He’s continuing to do a great job leading and rallying the guys up. Getting us ready to practice, and eventually when we’re out there to go out and play a game, he’ll do the same thing.”
The problem for Jones is that time has run out. There’s no more room for excuses whether that’s fair or not. It’s now or never for the former first-round pick.
