While the fans and media continue to lambast New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, players who know him are coming to his defense.
Former Pro Bowl tight end Kyle Rudolph, who played with Jones and the Giants in 2021, gave an interesting perspective on Jones’ current state.
“His confidence looks completely destroyed and how can you blame him? Every time he goes out there he’s fighting for his life,” Rudolph told Kay Adams during an appearance on Up & Adams.
Rudolph, who played his first 10 NFL seasons with the Minnesota Vikings (the Giants’ Week 1 opponent), told Adams he is still a close friend of Jones and spoke about what he saw from him in last week’s 28-6 loss at home.
“The Daniel Jones I watched in that game is not the Daniel Jones I watched take them to the divisional round of the playoffs. It’s not the guy I played with when I was there for a year,” he said.
“I’ve said this multiple times when I talk about DJ… Can we possibly protect him?”
The answer was clear on Sunday. No. Jones was sacked five times and hit a total of 12. Some of that can be attributed to his indecisiveness but there were simply too many plays where he had little chance.
Rudolph mentioned the swapping out of personnel on offense and how it could be affecting Jones.
“The other part, they got him the playmaker (Malik) Nabers in the draft this year, but they let Saquon Barkley go — and we saw what Saquon did Friday night in Brazil. He’s an explosive, dynamic playmaker that I’m sure D.J. would have loved to have next to him,” Rudolph said.
In closing, Rudolph is chalking things up to a regression by Jones. After years of injury issues and failures in big spots, he’s just in a shell.
“He’s got to get his confidence back,” he said. “I don’t know how they get it back. That wasn’t the guy I know and I know he has the ability to be. He’s super talented. Incredibly gifted.”
This week, Jones will have to come out of that shell and perform. If he doesn’t, the Giants might have to make a change.
