New York Giants 2024 Training Camp Preview: QB Daniel Jones
In case you missed it, New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll have both said repeatedly this off-season that the expectation is for Daniel Jones will reclaim the starting quarterback position once he is medically cleared from his off-season ACL rehab.
But with growing concern over his injury history and regression last year before his season-ending injury, the 2024 season could very well be Jones’s last hurrah unless he manages to avoid the injury bug and looks more like the quarterback he was in 2022.
That 2022 version of Daniel Jones quarterback was far and away . Jones set career highs in completion percentage (66.7 percent), passing yards (3,642), and adjusted completion percentage (80.1 percent). His 17 touchdowns were just short of his career-high 24 set in his rookie campaign, while his six interceptions set a new career low.
That season was also Jones’s first and only one thus far in which he didn’t miss a game due to injury. And those stats? Other than for the low amount of touchdowns, we’re talking top 15 league-wide among quarterbacks, a major factor behind the Giants giving him that four-year, $160 million contract that to this day has some people shaking their heads.
That was the quarterback the Giants expected to see in 2023 and onward. But that’s not what they got--to be fair, the entire team wasn’t quite what they expected to see.
With the escape hatch in Jones's contract coming up after this season, this year becomes a big make-or-break year for Jones and the team.
DANIEL JONES, QB
Height: 6-5
Weight: 230 lbs.
Exp.: 6 Years
School: Duke
How Acquired: D1-19
2023 in Review
Jones’s 2023 season can best be described as a Cinderella-type campaign without the “happily ever after” ending. Instead of celebrating and showing those who questioned the wisdom in his getting a four-year, $160 million contract, Jones gave his critics even more ammunition to continue dumping on him.
Granted, it wasn’t all his fault. His offensive line was putrid. He lost his best players, running back Saquon Barkley and tight end Darren Waller, to injuries.
At times, the playcalling was suspect. Of course, he dealt with another neck issue, only to later find that his season ended due to a torn ACL, which is not a good injury for a mobile quarterback.
In short, everything that could have gone wrong for Jones did. But it’s important to note that he wasn’t completely blameless in the poor 2023 season he headlined.
His post-snap processing time, which has been a problem since his days at Duke, continued to be an issue–if he wasn’t getting the ball out of his hand quickly, that often led to disaster and uncertainty.
This showed up in his allowed pressure, the stat in which pressure is the quarterback’s fault.
In 2022, Jones had a decent 16.7 percent rate in pressures he allowed, the seventh highest in the league among quarterbacks who took a minimum of 100 dropbacks.
Last season, that number jumped to a team-high 20 percent, playing behind mostly the same offensive line as Tyrod Taylor and Tommy DeVito.
Jones also seemed reluctant to pull the trigger on deep passes. Yes, his protection wasn’t consistent, but there were opportunities for him to throw the ball down the field, only for him to go the safer route with a crackdown.
Whether that was a result of the constant beating he took, turning him into a shell-chocked quarterback, or his uncertainty with the offense is something he can only answer.
But it seemed like the Jones we saw in 2023 was nowhere near the version we saw in 2022 when it looked like he had overcome so many issues in his game.
- Miss a 2024 Giants Training Camp profile? We've got them all archived for you here.
Contract/Cap Info
Jones is entering the second year of his four-year, $160 million deal, and this is a big one.
First, the numbers. Jones accounts for $47.855 million, or 18.4 percent of the Giants' 2024 cap space. He has $36 million guaranteed, which is a big reason the team hung onto him and why they are likely to restructure his deal if they need cap space.
The last of Jones’s guaranteed money evaporates after this year, but that comes with a caveat. If he is on the roster past March 16, 2025, $12 million of his $30 million base salary becomes fully guaranteed.
In 2025, he’ll contribute $41.605 million, or an estimated 16 percent of the estimated cap. If he is a pre-June 1 cut, the Giants will save $19.395 million but take a $22.210 million dead money hit.
If he is designated as a post-June 1 transaction, the team saves $30.5 million with an $11.105 million dead money hit in 2025 and 2026. The transaction would have to be made before the March 15 deadline to avoid the $12 million guaranteed money trigger entering the picture.
We’ll discuss the injury guarantee in the next section.
2024 Preview
What’s interesting about Jones and the pressures he’s been directly responsible for is that he’s actually in the same cluster as Patrick Mahomes in that department. Mahomes led the NFL in pressures he allowed (54). Had Jones played a full season, he was on pace for 48 pressures, which would have been third in the league.
The difference, though, is that Mahomes more frequently made plays with his arm, eyes, anticipation, and instinct to slow down the rush, whereas Jones did not.
Not surprisingly, the Giants looked to upgrade the position, having their heart set on landing former North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye, who went to the New England Patriots with this overall pick.
When the Giants couldn’t trade up to get Maye, they held their water, selecting receiver Malik Nabers with the sixth overall pick in the hopes that he’d help Jones and the offense moving forward.
But make no mistake about it. That the Giants looked to upgrade the position tells you everything you need to know about how they feel about the quarterback position, regardless of what they say.
The good news is that Jones can still seize the bull by the horns and quell any doubts the front office might have about him.
It’s going to be a challenge, though, as we still need to see if the ACL takes away any of his athleticism, which has been a main tool in his toolbox, and how he functions now that Barkley, who, along with Nabers, would have created multiple headaches for opponents to figure out how to stop, is no longer on the team.
Also working against him is the injury guarantee in his contract this year. If Jones cannot pass a physical by next spring, $23 million of the 2025 base salary becomes guaranteed for injury, regardless if he’s on the roster.
That means if the Giants get off to a slow start this year, they could, to protect themselves from having to pay that guarantee, pull Jones in favor of Drew Lock, similar to how the Raiders pulled Derek Carr and the Broncos Russell Wilson to avoid the possibility of having to pay an injury guarantee.
To do so, though, would send a message to the locker room that they’re raising the white flag on the season, which is why the Giants might not be so quick to do that even if they hit a skid.
Jones spent the spring with a chip on his shoulder, clearly annoyed with people bringing up the Giants’ unusually heavy interest in quarterbacks and questioning whether he would be ready to roll in what’s a critical season for him–all evidenced by his sometimes short and curt answers.
But they’re legitimate questions. Jones has had five seasons to show he can be the guy. He showed it in one season in which everything around him was, for the most part, perfect.
The ball is in his court now. He must show the Giants that their inability to get Drake Maye is a blessing in disguise.
PATRICIA TRAINA
Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for over three decades for various media outlets. She is the host of the Locked On Giants podcast and the author of "The Big 50: New York Giants: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants" (Triumph Books, September 2020). View Patricia's full bio.