Who will start under center for the New York Giants in 2022? Will newly hired general manager Joe Schoen wipe the slate clean and move on from quarterback Daniel Jones?
Apparently, the answer to that is “no.”
During a recent appearance on the Blue Rush podcast with Lawrence Tynes, Paul Schwartz of the New York Post reported that Schoen believes in Jones and that the 24-year-old will remain in East Rutherford next season.
“I was told that Joe Schoen believes that Daniel Jones can be his quarterback. He didn’t go into (the GM interview) and say, ‘number one, Daniel Jones it out. We’re drafting a quarterback or we’re signing one.’
“What I was told is there was talk about the offensive line being really bad and about all the injuries to his skill players that compromised what Daniel Jones can do more than Joe Schoen saying, ‘I don’t like your quarterback at all.'”
Does that mean Jones is a lock to have his fifth-year option picked up? No. That almost certainly will not happen. And nothing will be handed to Jones, either.
“The position will still be upgraded. They will increase the competition,” Schwartz added. “Look, am I saying that because (Schoen) thinks he can work with Daniel Jones that they will not draft a quarterback over the first couple days of the draft? I am not saying that. A rising tide raises all ships, right?”
Schwartz also believes that based on the information he’s gathered, Jones will be QB1 in 2022. However, there will be a new QB2 — one specifically added to push Jones for the starting spot.
That’s a notion Schwartz doubled down on in a recent article for The Post.
“What do you think of Daniel Jones?’’ was one of the very first questions the owners asked of the GM candidates. It is believed that Schoen said he can make it work with Jones, that Jones was hurt by a bad offensive line and too many injuries to his skill players.
Expect Jones, if his sprained neck is fully healed, to be the No. 1 quarterback in 2022. That does not mean the Giants will ignore the position. Schoen will upgrade the competition around Jones, but do not dismiss the possibility of taking a quarterback in the first three rounds of the NFL draft. Schoen, in his first year with Buffalo, watched Tyrod Taylor help the Bills end a 17-year playoff drought, but that didn’t stop the team from taking Josh Allen with its first pick in the 2018 draft.
With limited options in free agency and a less-than-stellar group of prospects in the 2022 NFL draft, Jones always seemed destined to return as QB1. If there had been more meat on the bone for the Giants to pick from this offseason, perhaps things would be different. Instead, Jones may have lucked out and earned another chance.
