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For those of you hopeful that the New York Giants may opt to move off of quarterback Daniel Jones after this season, your wishes don’t appear likely to come true anytime soon.
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Judge Vows to Build Around Daniel Jones at QB
Head coach Joe Judge, who is always extremely careful with his word selection and public support of players, went to bat for his quarterback on Wednesday. In a Zoom call with reporters, Judge was asked by NFL Network’s Kim Jones whether he has or believes he will have an “ah ha moment” of realization that Jones is the Giants’ franchise quarterback.
While Judge questions whether there is a singular “aha moment,” one thing he doesn’t appear to question is his quarterback. The first-year head coach went on to praise Jones for his work ethic, toughness, leadership and so on, before vowing to build around the second-year pro moving forward.
“I don’t know if there’s an ‘aha’ moment,” Judge said, referring to a comment Ravens head coach John Harbaugh recently made in regards to his inner realization that Baltimore found their guy in Lamar Jackson. “I’m not saying he’s wrong to have his own ah ha moment. To me, it’s a string of moments watching Daniel work. Watching the respect he has in the locker room. Watching him improve throughout this season. I think he’s demonstrated a level of toughness and leadership and knowledge on the field that gives us confidence to put him out there and build with Daniel.”
“I’m not going to point to one moment, but I can talk about this entire season of this guy has definitely earned my respect,” Judge said. “I kind of made it very hard on him from the beginning in a lot of ways and he hasn’t blinked.”
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Joe Judge: ‘Daniel Jones is Our Quarterback’
While many fans tried to dissect Judge’s comments to read the way they would prefer, namely a non-commitment to Jones, who has tossed just eight touchdowns to nine interceptions this season, Judge’s follow up statement left no qualms on his devotion to Jones as the team’s starter in 2021.
“He’s your guy?” Kimberly Jones asked Judge of the former No. 6 overall pick. “If you ever get a second and a half to think about next year, he’s your quarterback?”
“Daniel Jones is our quarterback,” Judge responded point-blank.
Is Jones Locked-In as New York’s Starter Next Season?
Judge is saying all the right things, but then again, the Cardinals voiced their commitment to Josh Rosen a few years back. That is, until they didn’t.
Is there a chance Judge and the Giants could backtrack on their backing of Jones as their guy? While certainly plausible, it’s also very unlikely.
We understand why many Giants fans are frustrated with their quarterback situation, especially when less experienced signal-callers such as Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow have already shown what could be perceived as more promise than Jones has throughout their careers.
Yet, we can all admit that Jones has not been dealt the best of hands. For all the fanboying that players such as Wayne Gallman and Darius Slayton receive, New York’s skill players as a whole rank near, if not at the bottom of the NFL. A healthy Saquon Barkley next season will certainly help, while Big Blue must be aggressive in supplying Jones with talented pass-catchers on the outside. This is especially true in a deep free agent and draft class.
Rather than snagging a quarterback early in the draft, a more likely scenario would be that the Giants build around Jones, while also bringing in a more intriguing backup at the position via free agency or later in the draft. Preferably a quarterback that is more capable of pushing Jones, as well as win games in his absence, as opposed to having “another coach on the field” type of player whose main purpose of being rostered is to hold a clipboard.
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Joe Judge Makes ‘Point-Blank’ Statement on Daniel Jones Future With Giants