It’s not often that a New York Giants fan beats the local media to a major story involving the starting quarterback, but that’s what appears to have happened in the case of Daniel Jones and his recently revealed neck surgery.
The rumor started on Wednesday night, when a Twitter user named “Richard B.” (@COOLLANEHERO) posted two close-up photographs of Jones. The first photo is from 2021, and Jones has no visible scar on his neck. The second photo is from 2022, and Jones clearly has a small scar at the bottom of his neck.
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On the left is DJ in 2021 on the right is DJ in 2022 the scar on his neck wasn’t there last year I believe @TapJackson420 was right and he indeed had some sort of procedure done this off-season #TogetherBlue
The tweet gained a little more traction in the Giants community when former kicker and two-time Super Bowl champion Lawrence Tynes shared it with his thoughts.
“Probably had a procedure in the off season,” Tynes wrote. “My buddy had it last year, same scar. Had a pinched nerve neck/shoulder area. Interesting though.”
Sure enough, Jones was asked about it during his media availability on Thursday and the speculation was accurate: The Giants quarterback confirmed that he did, in fact, undergo a previously unreported medical procedure on his neck “early in the winter.”
Here’s the moment Jones revealed the information, via Talkin’ Giants on Twitter:
Daniel Jones says he had a “non football related” procedure done on his neck and it’s unrelated to his 2021 injury.
“I had a non-football related procedure done on my neck,” Jones said. “I saw there was something about it, but it was completely unrelated. I feel good, neck’s great.”
Jones revealed no other details about his neck surgery, but was adamant that it had nothing to do with the neck injury that cost him the last six games of the 2021 NFL season.
Did the Giants Try to Hide Daniel Jones’ Neck Surgery?
There’s no evidence that the Giants went out of their way to bury this story, but they were not (and still are not) eager to talk about it. In late December, the Giants ran a story on their official website about Jones’ injury and specifically mentioned that he would not need surgery.
“That’s a huge relief,” Jones said at the time, via Giants.com. “I think any time you’re dealing with your neck or something like that, you want to be smart and cautious. Certainly, relieved there’s no surgery.”
Even though Jones now claims his neck procedure was “non-football related,” it’s pretty rare for something like this to go undetected until now. Pat Leonard of The New York Daily News made note of this in his reporting on Thursday.
“It’s unheard of nowadays for an NFL team to successfully keep a surgery to its starting quarterback under wraps,” Leonard wrote. “This story isn’t over, though.”
That last part is debatable. Head coach Brian Daboll was asked about the situation on Friday morning and did not seem to appreciate the line of questioning.
Brian Daboll refuses to go into Daniel Jones’ surgery or injury. Seems frustrated by questions about it. Doesn’t answer if the surgery was connected to a trauma #Giants
“Brian Daboll refuses to go into Daniel Jones’ surgery or injury,” Leonard tweeted. “Seems frustrated by questions about it. Doesn’t answer if the surgery was connected to a trauma.”
This is an unusual story, and the Giants’ guarded approach to it might mean that we never get to the bottom of it.
Daniel Jones Reiterates That He is Healthy For 2022 Season
Regardless of this mystery procedure, Daniel Jones has made it clear that he’s fully healthy now and ready to go for the 2022 NFL season. Right before he was asked about the surgery on Thursday, he was asked about any lingering pain/discomfort from the preseason opener last week.
“Yeah, it was all good,” Jones said. “Didn’t have any kind of issues at all.”
Jones, who was the sixth-overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, is entering his fourth professional season and is currently slated to become an unrestricted free agent next spring.
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How a Giants Fan on Twitter Exposed QB Daniel Jones’ Neck Surgery [LOOK]