The New York Giants (2-8) are thankfully on a be this week and have plenty of time now to do several things. One of those is to heal up and get healthier. The other is to figure out what they want to accomplish during the final seven games.
The biggest question is whether to continue putting embattled quarterback Daniel Jones under center. That decision will be made this week.
Giants head coach Brian Daboll has claimed Jones gives them their best chance to win, something they haven’t done since October 6. However, several positives to benching Jones are not performance-based.
The Giants are almost certain to cut Jones loose after the season as there is an “out” as we approach the midway point of his egregious four-year, $160 million contract. There is also the injury guarantee clause to consider. An injury to Jones would compel the Giants to pay him $23 million next season.
And wouldn’t the Giants like to see what backup Drew Lock, who they inked to a one-year, $5 million deal, can do? There’s also Tommy DeVito’s improvement over last year when he won three games in relief for them.
“Is this even much of a decision?” wrote New York Y Post writer Paul Schwartz last week. “There does not seem any possible way the Giants send Jones out there to start the next game, which comes at home against the Buccaneers. The MetLife Stadium crowd will not be welcoming and will not be pleased to see Jones trot out there with the first-team offense.”
True. The fans have had enough of Jones. Five and a half seasons worth to be exact. He burst onto the scene as a rookie in 2019 and threw 24 touchdowns in 12 starts. A star was in the making, we thought.
Not so fast. Since then, Jones has regressed. Perhaps it was a combination of having too many coaching changes and way too many injuries. He hasn’t tossed more than 15 in a season since that rookie year.
The Giants are dead last in points per game (15.6) and near the bottom in just about every offensive category. Jones has a lot to do with that.
The real issue is his inability to rise to the occasion. His predecessor, Eli Manning, was not perfect statistically either, but he knew how to win games. Jones has yet to master that.
The Giants need to take these last seven games and point toward the future — one that doesn’t include Jones.
