Getty Daniel Jones #8 hands the ball off to Saquon Barkley #26 of the New York Giants.
The verdict may still be out on if Daniel Jones is truly a franchise quarterback. However, with each passing week, the former Duke Blue Devil inches closer to cementing himself as such.
Jones has played tremendous football in the early parts of the 2021 season, no more so than in Week 4’s comeback victory over the New Orleans Saints. Down 11 points with less than seven minutes remaining in regulation, the third-year signal-caller put the team on his back, flaunting the skill and poise of a wily veteran. Jones finished the game with two touchdowns and a career-high 402 yards — 203 of which came on a 14-of-19 showing in the fourth quarter and overtime.
His brilliance helped net his Giants their first victory of the year and, at least for the time being, silenced some doubters for arguably the league’s most maligned player.
Saquon Barkley on Jones: ‘He’s a Special Player’
Running back Saquon Barkley, who capped off Big Blue’s victory with a walk-off touchdown plunge from six yards out, has been with Jones in East Rutherford from the start. He’s seen the constant negativity tossed his quarterback’s way and he’s seen how Jones has responded.
While the first few weeks of the season aren’t exactly a tell-all on Jones’ status as a premier quarterback in the league, don’t tell Barkley that, who believes the Giants have a “special” talent under center.
“Ever since the day he’s been drafted he’s been criticized, and that guy does nothing but come in and work and get better and lead every single day,” Barkley said of Jones via NJ.com. “He showed he’s a special player, we knew he’s a special player.”
New York is a tough place to play, especially when you’re losing. The Giants have done plenty of that during Jones’ tenure with the team, as he owns a 9-22 record as a starter. Now combine that record with a talent-deprived roster, questionable play-calling and negative pre-draft biases pertaining to Jones and you have a young quarterback in a less than ideal position to thrive. Yet, the 24-year-old North Carolina native continues to forge on.
As the level-headed, even-keeled Jones grows in the Giants offense and as the Giants offense grows around Jones, the organization may very well find themselves solidified at the most important position in football by season’s end.
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Joe Judge on Jones Being a ‘Franchise Quarterback’
In typical Joe Judge fashion, the Giants head coach was far less boisterous with his thoughts of Jones following the team’s Week 4 victory. Asked if Jones put forth a “franchise-quarterback” performance vs. the Saints, Judge refused to put a label on things. Still, he went out of his way to shower his quarterback with some much-deserved praise.
“Look, I love Daniel, he had a heckuva game today. I’m not gonna go ahead and start making broad-picture statements and headline-type things … as I’ve said consistently, Daniel Jones is our quarterback,” Judge noted via the New York Post. “However you want to label that and go forward with that, you guys can put that in the paper, but, look, I’m very proud of how this guy came down here, prepared throughout the week, and the performance he had on the field today in that environment against that defense.”