Daniel Jones showed the Giants’ coaches impressive resilience and persistence this summer while installing Brian Daboll’s complicated new offense.
“We talk about it all the time in our meeting room: ‘poise in the noise,'” quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney said recently. “And Daniel’s done a great job of that. Couldn’t be happier with where he’s progressing. He comes back after a bad play, talks about it, goes back in, doesn’t make the same mistake. That’s what we’re looking for.”
Poise in the noise.
That might as well be Jones’ mantra for how to face this season’s pressure and expectations, as well.
The Giants’ stated goal for 2022 under new GM Joe Schoen is to give Jones a fair shot to prove he is a franchise quarterback in his fourth NFL season.
But it’s no secret that Schoen declined to pick up Jones’ fifth-year option for 2023, which spoke volumes on where the organization stands.
Next year’s draft class is full of QB talent after a down year in 2022, too.
Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Alabama’s Bryce Young, Kentucky’s Will Levis, Florida’s Anthony Richardson and Miami’s Tyler Van Dyke are among the top draft eligible quarterbacks.
To help Jones, Schoen drafted right tackle Evan Neal, wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson and tight end Daniel Bellinger to play immediately.
The GM signed free agent right guard Mark Glowinski and center Jon Feliciano. And Saquon Barkley arrived at training camp in great shape.
But as the regular season approaches, a major concern lingers: the unreliability, and lack of consistency, of Jones’ receiving corps in this new offense.
This is not an impressive roster, and Jones can’t do it alone. He needs help.
He needs protection. He needs his receivers on the field.
“I think we’re all a good bit more comfortable,” Jones said before the preseason finale against the Jets. “With that being said, I think we’ve got a good bit of work to do here before our first game in Nashville.”
Jones’ best connection all summer, far and away, was with wide receiver David Sills. That comes as no surprise because Sills and Jones are good friends who worked out together all offseason. They put in the time.
“There’s nothing more valuable than reps,” Jones said after he and Sills ignited a preseason touchdown drive against the Cincinnati Bengals. “Getting together, going through it in practice, seeing things, having the conversations, correcting things and moving forward. There’s a process to it, and you got to put the time in, put the effort in and go through it. He’s definitely done that, but we got to do that with everyone as a group.”
Doing it with everyone as a group has taken more time.
Kadarius Toney barely practiced this summer and didn’t play a single preseason snap, continuing a frustrating rookie trend. He had an offseason knee procedure and also appeared to tweak his right hamstring in camp.
In a recent practice, offensive coordinator Mike Kafka told Toney to keep running and finish a route out of his break, and Toney responded with a comment about where the ball had been on the throw.
Kenny Golladay had a lackluster August and does not appear to be on the same page as Jones. That connection remains a work in progress.
At least Golladay, Jones and Sills stayed out on the field long after a recent joint practice with the Jets to work on red zone throws, coming off a Jets interception on a throw intended for Golladay.
“If you can get on the same page in the red zone, which is really what we are trying to work on there after practice, I think it will be a huge weapon for our offense,” Sills said. “That’s kind of the conversations of what our timing looks like, what we think if we get this look, what he’s expecting, if we get that look, what he’s expecting. It’s that constant communication back and forth between DJ and the receivers.”
Robinson promises to be a factor in the offense, but he’s a rookie, and the 5-8, 185-pound receiver is going to have to prove he can take NFL punishment.
Unfortunately for Jones, camp standout Collin Johnson is done for the season after tearing his right Achilles in practice.
And while the QB has years of chemistry with Sterling Shepard, they have not been able to throw together much in Daboll’s new offense.
Shepard spent most of the summer on the physically unable to perform list due to a left Achilles tear last December.
“It’s been a while since Daniel and I have actually gotten to throw,” Shepard said after his first practice on Aug. 24. “Since I’ve been on PUP, I haven’t been able to catch any passes from him. So we have a rapport, but we have to freshen things up and build that connection back again … It shouldn’t take us long.”
The good news for Jones is that he appears to have impressed his coaches in August, coming off a slow start to camp and some noise in league circles that the club could move off him quicker than expected to backup Tyrod Taylor if things go south.
Daboll said on Aug. 26 that he is “pleased with his progress, his leadership, how he’s handled things.”
“His reads, his footwork, his ability to get to checkdowns when we need to,” Daboll said. “I think he’s seeing downfield clearly.”
Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, the play caller, said Jones is doing a “great job” in the face of coaches “throwing a lot at him.”
“I’m really proud of where the staff has come from where we started to where we are now,” Kafka said. “I’m really proud of where the players are from where we started to where we are at.”
Jones said after he learned the offense’s terminology, the next process was to get on the same page with “seeing the reads.”
“Understanding against what coverages, how this play is going to look, the timing of certain reads,” he said. “I think the high-level stuff happens over time and that’s kind of what we’ve been focused on.”
Tierney said the Giants have handed Jones the keys to this offense, which highlights Jones’ running ability, and they’re “encouraging him to trust his instincts.”
He said Jones’ field vision and processing speed helps coaches in real time understand what’s working and what isn’t in a game.
“It’s one thing if you see it in the meeting room, but after a series or a rack of plays, if he comes out and you say, ‘Hey, what’d you see here?’ He can tell you what happened,” Tierney said. “And you go back and watch the film, and what he told you is what happened. That’s always a really good thing, just for the communication between coach and player.”
Tierney also said that when Daboll pulled Jones for one practice play during camp and put Taylor in to explain a read to Jones, the QB didn’t blink.
“He reacted great,” Tierney said. “Same way. There wasn’t anything after it. It was boom, here’s the coaching point. And go back in there like it was just another day.”
This is far from just another season for Jones, though. This could be his last with the Giants, unless it all comes together quickly.
It’s on him to do his part, but it’s also on the rest of the team to help him out.
