The New York Giants had, by most accounts, a disappointing 2019 campaign. They endured their third losing season in a row, winning just four games on the year. All-world running back Saquon Barkley, Evan Engram, and Sterling Shepard all battled through injuries, and ultimately head coach Pat Shurmur was shown the door.
However, while 2019 may have been a disappointment from a strictly win-loss perspective, it also may have been the start of a great future, as one analyst has pointed out.
‘Leap Year 2020, Daniel Jones & Darius Slayton’
Good Morning Football’s Peter Schrager sees what many Giants fans saw throughout the latter part of this past season, potential greatness out of the young and dynamic duo of Daniel Jones and Darius Slayton.
Schrager feels so strongly about this duo’s upside that in a recent segment on the show, in which the panel was giving the option to predict their choice for breakout second-year players for 2020, he chose both.
“Last year was a lost season for the New York Giants,” Schrager stated. He then went on to state, “Daniel Jones had more touchdown passes than Kyler Murray. Daniel Jones had more touchdown passes than Gardner Minshew. Daniel Jones had more touchdown passes than any other rookie quarterback in the league. And guess what, Darius Slayton had more touchdowns than any other rookie in the league receiving.”
“I think Daniel Jones and Darius Slayton quietly in a lost season for the Giants gave a lot of promise. I’m going to say both these guys make the leap in 2020.”
Schrager then dropped the mic with this little tidbit. “Daniel Jones & Darius Slayton could be the greatest connection that New York’s had maybe since Eli & Odell a few years back.” A statement that drew a few “oohs” and “ahhs” from the rest of the morning cast.
Joe Judge & Jason Garrett Are Crucial to the Duo’s Development
Schrager made some viable points beyond just the duo’s 2019 statistics to back up his reasoning for his selections. Most notably, he pointed to the new coaching regime in New York, one who’s background could be just what these two talented youngsters need to go from promising prospects to budding stars.
Schrager pointed to head coach Joe Judge “who happens to have an expertise in wide receiver play,” as a guy who could help develop Slayton’s game. Aside from being a special teams coordinator for most of his career, Judge spent 2019 with the New England Patriots as the team’s wide receiver coach. In that one season, Judge worked alongside the likes of veterans Julian Edelman, Josh Gordon, Antonio Brown, and Mohamed Sanu, amongst others. Judge also managed to get the most out of rookies such as N’Keal Harry and Jakobi Meyers.
In terms of Daniel Jones, he’ll have the benefit of working alongside newly hired offensive coordinator Jason Garrett. Per Schrager, Garrett “has more than enough experience with quarterback play, having been a quarterback in this league, and then having been an offensive coordinator.”
Once again a valid point from Schrager, as people tend to glaze over Garrett’s laundry list of successes in this league, opting instead to focus heavily on his shortcomings as a head coach.
Let’s not forget that before he took the helm as the head man in Dallas, Garrett coordinated three top-seven total offenses over a four-year span, including two top-three units. He also helped develop Dak Prescott from a player who was, once upon a time, compared to Tim Tebow and was seriously considered for a position change out of college, into a top-half signal-caller in this league.
Now Dak is on the verge of breaking the bank, and chances are Garrett had a lot more to do with that than fans and media want to admit. The Giants can only hope Garrett can have the same positive impact on Jones.
READ NEXT: Slayton Amongst 7 Giants on Top 200 Fantasy Players of 2020 List
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Giants QB-WR Duo Deemed Next Great New York Connection