A big contract brings big pressure, but the weight of expectations isn’t crushing Daniel Jones. Instead, the New York Giants’ quarterback is being destroyed by constant pressure allowed by the makeshift offensive line in front of him.
Two grim statistics sum up how the Giants are ruining Jones and not getting what they expected from an investment of $160 million over four years. Those are the terms of the lucrative extension Jones signed this offseason, but a few other numbers will be on his mind.
Numbers like having “been under pressure on 46.7% of his dropbacks, the highest rate in the league. The league average last season was 34%,” according to Nick Akridge of Pro Football Focus.
Akridge also detailed how “after three games, the Giants have allowed 27 pressures in under two seconds, nearly twice as many as the second-worst team.”
The stats help illustrate a gloomy picture revealing the Giants can’t protect the player they expect to perform like a franchise quarterback. A growing list of injuries in the trenches is only partly to blame and means the problem won’t be going away any time soon.
Injuries Wrecking the Giants Up Front
Jones’ problems are found along a poorly performing offensive line, but it doesn’t help the Giants’ QB1 has rarely had a fully healthy group to block for him. The list of injuries has mounted, with standout left tackle Andrew Thomas atop the list.
Thomas is being kept on the sidelines because of a lingering hamstring problem, per Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News.
Giants left tackle Andrew Thomas is OUT for Monday vs the Seahawks.
He will miss a 3rd straight game and is week to week with a hamstring injury that Brian Daboll called “day to day” after he sustained it in Week 1. So we go from having a chance to play in Week 2 to missing 3…
Thomas staying on the shelf means Jones remains without his blindside protector. It’s also just one part of an ongoing reshuffle up front that’s included guard Mark Glowinski losing his job and Marcus McKethan being promoted on the right side.
McKethan, a fifth-round pick in the 2022 NFL draft, is part of a patchwork group of starters for Week 4’s game against the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football. The makeshift line will also see Joshua Ezeudu remain in place of Thomas at MetLife Stadium, per Fireside Giants.
Joshua Ezeudu is expected to start again at LT with Andrew Thomas OUT #NYGiants
Ezeudu was a third-round pick a year ago as a guard, but he’s been asked to kick outside and the results have been mixed. With two second-year pros starting, one out of position, and a rookie at center in John Michael Schmitz, it’d be easy for the Giants to cry the blues about their paucity of stellar options along the line, but injuries are just one part of the story.
The other part involves some alarmingly poor performances in front of Jones.
Starting Linemen Failing Jones
While Ezeudu and McKethan may get a pass for their struggles, the Giants can expect more from right tackle Evan Neal. Granted, he’s also playing just his second season in the pros, but Neal was the seventh-overall pick in 2022.
A top-10 draft choice ought to be more solid than allowing 13 pressures, three penalties and one sack through three games, per Pro Football Focus. As Paul Schwartz of the New York Post put it, the Giants “didn’t draft him (Neal) at number seven to be on the ground!”
‘They didn’t draft him at number seven to be on the ground!’
@NYPost_Schwartz points out Evan Neal’s struggles at right tackle, as #NYGiants QB Daniel Jones has been pressured on nearly half of his drop-backs this season
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Neal wasn’t helped by Glowinski’s struggles next to him during Week 1’s 40-0 shutout defeat to the Dallas Cowboys. Glowinski gave up three sacks and was soon touted as somebody the Giants needed to replace with a free agent like La’el Collins or Justin Pugh.
Instead, the Giants are opted to replace Glowinski from within. It’s a gamble given how much the line has continued to struggle since. Jones was sacked five times across games against the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers.
The relentless pressure he’s facing is preventing Jones from making the improvements expected as a passer. Progress through the air is what the Giants expected after they paid Jones and equipped him with new targets like wide receivers Parris Campbell and Jalin Hyatt, along with Pro-Bowl tight end Darren Waller.
Unfortunately, it already looks like the Giants would have been smarter to invest in beefing up a threadbare O-line.
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Giants Are Destroying Daniel Jones Because of 2 Statistics