Pat Shurmur insists that Daniel Jones will be ready when his time comes.
He also said that time is not upon us.
The Giants have made it clear, especially in recent days and from the very top of the organization, that Eli Manning is their starting quarterback heading into this season. Co-owner John Mara's vision of the 2019 campaign, he said earlier this week, is for Manning to play every snap, which would mean the Giants are winning, and also mean Jones never sees the field.
"Well, you heard it from the owner," Shurmur said of Plan A.
But what if circumstances were different? What if Manning wasn't here, or for some reason is unable to play in the regular season opener? What if, in some alternate universe, the Giants needed Jones to step in as their starting quarterback today?
What if the Giants needed Plan B?
Jones will be ready when his time comes, but let's flip that equation. If his time was now, would he be ready?
"We've still got training camp to push through, we've got preseason games left to push through," Shurmur hedged on Saturday. "I would say right now, we're three weeks from any of us being ready. That's sort of where we're at. We've got work to do."
For Jones, though, the work will change shortly. He only has a handful of practices left to work with the Giants offense. After that, Manning will take close to the full load of snaps in workouts to prepare for taking them in the games and Jones will be running the scout team. And if Manning plays the majority of next week's preseason game against the Bengals, as Shurmur has suggested he will, then Jones may only have a game-and-a-fraction of live action before the regular season begins.
That may be enough to get him ready, if not quite set and go.
"I think he's making good progress and as he goes along here, he's checking off all of the boxes," Shurmur said. "I am pleased with the progress he's making."
