Before getting to the heart of the matter, it’s important to acknowledge that, yes, sure, the New York Giants’ offensive line is still a mess. So when a game gets as out of control as it did Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings, you throw out some of the evaluation because there is no play call that beats a defense up 22 points with a quarter remaining, certain the offense has to throw. You can even excuse the very late interceptions because at that point you can be kind of impressed the guy is still willing to huck it.
With that taken care of, Daniel Jones needs to be benched. Or, at the very least, notified that first-team reps in practice will be doled out on merit from this point forward. With two other quarterbacks on the roster—Drew Lock and Tommy DeVito—whom we know are just as capable of winning games at this point, the time for action is now, before Jones-related excuse making morphs into locker room-wide indifference and cynicism.
The Giants lost their season opener 28–6. Jones was 22-of-42 for 186 yards and two interceptions, one a pick-six. Jones is a tough guy with a big heart, who may very well have been shipwrecked via a series of bad decisions related to his offensive coaching staffs since being drafted in 2019. There is absolutely a world where he’ll see the playing field elsewhere, but this situation in New York, mere quarters into the ’24 NFL season, has already arrived at the point where Brian Daboll was surrender-punting near midfield down by three touchdowns.
Daboll has exhausted every effort, and it’s clear Jones is only moderately effective when he’s tied into the team’s running game (as opposed to ineffective as a pure drop-back passer). The problem is that Jones does not have the kind of Justin Fields–like athleticism nor the Josh Allen–like steamroller power to frighten a defense. Most of the designed runs for Jones, a trend that Daboll slipped heavily into with the game still in contention Sunday, were stopped in the backfield. Jones struggled reading what was in front of him, he missed throws and he appeared skittish at times, which is understandable given how tenuous he probably understands his situation to be. Yes there were drops. Yes, DC Brian Flores called a great game for the Vikings. No, this game should not have been a blowout.
The Giants have tried unconditional love when it comes to Jones, they have tried tough love and they tried discussing his replacement on an HBO miniseries this offseasonnone of which have been able to provide the defibrillator shock to his career that the team has been hoping for. This offseason, Daboll made public his desire to keep Jones out of seven-on-seven drills all summer, forcing each and every snap that Jones took to include heavy defensive pressure in hopes that he would acclimate. With the most consequential years of the now ill-fated four-year, $160 million contract extension already in the rearview mirror, the Giants are not beholden to Jones simply because of the finances.
Under normal circumstances, calling for a starting quarterback to be benched after one week of the season is a world-class, look-at-me hack job from someone who covers football for a living. It’s a First Take–style performative tap dance, a challenge to see how loud you can yell “FIRE” in a crowded movie theater for no other reason than the love of the sound of your own voice. However, I’m granting myself an exception because of the circumstances. The Giants’ offseason road map to this point, which included the heavy exploration of a trade up in the 2024 draft and the signing of a backup with starting experience, has been an admission that Jones is in the very late stages of his time with the team.
At this point, the priority should be installing a quarterback who is able to play—even unspectacularly—within the confines of the offense. Rookie first-rounder Malik Nabers doesn’t need a superstar, he needs a DoorDash quarterback, something good enough that simply arrives and gives him the chance to create. The same could be said for Wan’Dale Robinson, who made perhaps the offense’s only play worth adding to a highlight reel from Week 1.
For whatever reason—pick one from the list above—Jones cannot be that quarterback. Too often during his tenure, games have slipped out of control at avalanche paces. That kind of repeat occurrence can carve a groove into any locker room, but especially a Giants team that can no longer blame the situation on anyone else. Jones isn’t done, but he is done there. The longer the Giants wait to arrive at that decision, the longer they risk the rest of the locker room believing they can perform that way and still expect to start.
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