If there’s one person floating out there in the football universe who can understand what Daniel Jones is going through, it’s Dave Brown.
The similarities between the two are uncanny: Giants first-round draft picks out of Duke, tasked with replacing legendary quarterbacks.
Brown, the Giants’ top pick in the 1992 supplemental draft, made a rare appearance, speaking to Jones’ suddenly brighter spotlight on “The Rich Eisen Show” Thursday. The man who replaced Phil Simms had some advice for the 22-year-old supplanting Eli Manning.
“I’ve sent some emails [to Jones],” Brown told Eisen, “I’ve gone back and forth with his father as well. On draft night, I sent a note to his father and I said, ‘Don’t judge the reception on him. … Block that out, just keep your head down, do your job and I know it’ll work out for you.’ ”
While things didn’t go so well for Brown, who compiled a 26-34 record as a starter for the Giants from 1994-97, he understands his role in some of the fan hesitation surrounding Jones — not that he condones it.
“I feel like it’s a little unfair because the Giant fan has the history of the Duke quarterback being there that didn’t work out so well, so it’s unfortunate that he’s getting lumped into that,” Brown said.
Taking over for Simms as a 24-year-old in his third pro season was no easy task for Brown, who says he was good friends with the aging signal caller. Simms didn’t head out without making one last hand-off, though.
“I was walking in the building and he was walking out,” Brown said of Simms’ final press conference with the Giants. “And — New York media, there was a hundred people in there, cameras everywhere — I was sort of hoping I wouldn’t see him, but I’m glad it happened this way. He was walking out, I passed him, he leaned over to my ear and whispered, ‘So, are you a little bit nervous now?’ and just walked out. It was such a great passing of the torch at the time, and it was very funny.”
There’s a little less humor surrounding Jones’ elevation over Manning these days, but Brown, now a managing director with investment bank Moelis & Company, sees it working out well.“Every year, there’s the diamond in the rough that they’ve found, this could be the guy,” Brown told Eisen. “His preseason — again, it was preseason — he looked in complete control of the offense. When I watched him at Duke, and I watched him a lot, if there’s one concern I had with him, I felt that he was a little bit late with his throws. That might be because the athletes he was throwing to maybe couldn’t get open as much as the guys he’s throwing to now. I’ve not seen that with the Giants so far. In the preseason games, he anticipated well, he threw a great ball.
“I think he’s going to be a really great quarterback. I’m rooting for him, obviously.”