I put up a poll on Twitter asking a very simple question: If we were to cut Jones tomorrow. How many teams pick him up to be their starter? Over 50% of responses said less than 5 and over 90% said less than 10. So here’s my new question: If less that A THIRD of the NFL would bring in Jones, why should we stick with him?
Before I start; no, I don’t think we should cut him this season. His cap hit is insane, it doesn’t make sense. He will absolutely be on the roster next year and if he is ready for week 1, could start a few games.
The responses I got were very reasonable. In an off-season where there are a lot of teams looking for a QB, here is every single team that was mentioned in response: Steelers, Patriots, Commanders, Falcons, Jets, Commanders, Raiders, Titans, Vikings, Broncos. That’s 10 teams. I can make an argument for most of these teams not looking to bring him in (Early draft pick can lead to a rookie QB preference or the chance they could like a QB on their roster better), but I won’t get into that because it is semantics.
Essentially what over 90% of the people who voted on this poll believe is that Jones is not in the top TWENTY QBs in the NFL to have on their roster. Going into this season, the expectation was for Jones to emerge as a top 10 QB. Jones play was flat out bad most of the time he was on the field. Yes injuries are something he can not control that play a big part, but they are a massive factor that should not be ignored. 3 major injuries in 3 years would be insane to ignore.
The Giants are not in position to be a contender next year, and unless a couple people take huge steps forward – not the year after either. Resetting at the QB position and bringing in a QB who you can build a scheme and team around is The Giants best chance to finally move out of this darkness of being a bottom offense in the NFL.
Like I said before, Jones will be on the team next year, due to his contract. Jones could be cut at the end of the season to give The Giants an extra $20M to play with in free agency. Combine that with a QB going into his second season and a scheme built just for him, we could expect something special in 2025. That was the expectation for this season with Jones, but Jones fell flat on his face.
I know when I tweet about this, there is going to be a ton of comments saying, “A rookie QB won’t do well behind this offensive line” and “Jones will be fine if we fix the line.” Bottom line is this: The offensive line is the biggest issue, but Daniel Jones made the situation worse and the bad offensive line play does not excuse bad plays from clean pockets. We can fix the line while also bringing in a new QB. Also, the offensive line once Andrew Thomas came back was a drastically different line to what was on the field the first half of the season. Tyrod Taylor and Tommy DeVito were fine behind the line, so I’m not worried about a rookie not being able to develop behind the line.
The Giants did screw over Daniel Jones, just like John Mara said. That is not a reason to stick with him. He has not developed the way we hoped with Brian Daboll and he has proven to not stretch the field vertically, panics when his first read is not there, and does not read blitz’s well. Resetting the clock on a QB with the current state of the team makes a ton of sense or we will find ourselves in the situation the Raiders were in with Derek Carr. It is difficult to build up your roster when your QB accounts for 20%+ of your teams salary cap.
Last thing, I have said it 100 times on twitter and I don’t want people who don’t follow me to read this and think that I want a QB no matter what at 6.
Don’t draft a QB just to draft a QB. If you’re sitting at 6 and a QB you do not have a top 10 grade on is there, don’t reach. I’d rather take a prospect they see as someone they could build up and sit for a year in the second or third than leaving day 1 with a QB just to say we have a new QB.
A Fan With A Mic 