The New York Giants appear to be Daniel Jones’ team for at least one more full season — barring injury.
That was the expectation after the top six quarterbacks came off the board in round one before the 13th overall pick on April 25, but the Giants hammered the point home when they officially passed on the position altogether as the draft concluded on April 27.
After their final selection was made, NYG general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll addressed the media. To no surprise, they were asked about the future of the quarterback position after striking out in the 2024 draft.
“You obviously did not take a quarterback in this draft,” ESPN’s Jordan Raanan began. Continuing: “You did a lot of work [at quarterback] before this draft. It’s been reported [that] you tried to move up, or at least had conversations about moving up for a quarterback in this draft. Where do you consider yourself with the quarterback position now for this year and for the future?”
“For me, I said it in January after the season, the expectation was Daniel [Jones] would be our starter,” Schoen responded with a shrug. “And we brought Drew Lock in to be his backup and Tommy [DeVito’s] been the backup. So, that’s where we are and that’s where we’re going to move forward this season.”
“Daniel’s still under contract for three more years,” the Giants GM added. “So, as it sits today, that’s where we are.”
Giants Chalk Up Private QB Workouts as ‘Due Diligence’
Ahead of the NFL draft, the Giants brought in several of the top quarterback prospects for private workouts and visits. They also traveled the country looking at QBs throw and were given a very public green light from president and CEO John Mara on drafting a new signal-caller.
Despite that, no drafted quarterback will compete with Jones, Lock and DeVito. After a follow-up question on the team’s perceived QB interest, Schoen chalked it all up as “due diligence” and an overlapping of prospects.
“I understand your question [but] if you look at the pro days we went to, there’s quality and quantity [at each],” the general manager replied. “LSU, there’s a lot of good players at other positions that we did take. No different than [University of] Washington. Washington won a lot of games and went to the National Championship game and there were a lot of players [to see].”
“I can name 15 other players that we did private workouts [with] at other positions,” Schoen went on. “Again, we’re going to continue to do our due diligence. You get six, seven swings, and you want to make sure you know as much as you can about each prospect.”
He concluded that the only way to truly get to know them is to meet with them in person and take a “boots on the ground” approach.
Drew Lock & Tommy DeVito Enter 2024 as Daniel Jones Insurance Policy
For the contingent of Giants fans that wanted to move on from Jones after 2024 — or potentially sooner — this outcome is the worst-case scenario.
Now, the only insurance in the case of another Jones injury is a failed second-round prospect turned journeyman backup (Lock) and another helping of DeVito, which would feel like groundhog’s day for any supporter looking for change.
To make matters worse, if Jones were to get hurt, he has a possible 2025 injury guarantee of $23 million built into his contract. That would make it even more difficult to part ways with the former first-round selection, should things go sideways once again.
There could be big-name veteran QB options that are available next spring, but that would require a boatload of money — and even if the Giants cut Jones a year from now, they would still be on the hook for a dead charge of over $22.2 million. Of course, a post-June 1 release would divide that number in half, but then you’d have to wait until then to clear the cap space.
The third option, outside of injury or release, is that Jones plays well enough to retake the quarterback job long-term. But would that be looked at as a good thing for the Giants?
At the end of the day, they were sitting at No. 6 overall within a very strong quarterback class and they passed on the position for a wide receiver. For some, that decision will be eerily familiar to the one the previous front office made when they selected Saquon Barkley in 2018.
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Giants GM Joe Schoen Addresses Passing on QB Position in NFL Draft