Time is now for the New York Giants to make their QB move
Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll lived this before. If they fall for a quarterback this week in Indy, they should be aggressive.
INDIANAPOLIS — The conviction that compelled Joe Schoen to pay Daniel Jones exactly one year ago hasn’t changed. This week, the New York Giants general manager appeared to leave no room for doubt.
“I have faith in Daniel as our starting quarterback,” said Schoen.
This echoed what Schoen said shortly after Jones underwent surgery to repair his torn ACL last November. The GM stated the “expectation is that when Daniel is healthy, he will be our starting QB.”
Which echoed Schoen’s strong support of Jones in an extensive 1 on 1 with Go Long last summer: “Nobody’s going to work harder than the kid. He’s big. He’s athletic. He can make all the throws. He’s accurate. Upgrading some of the talent around him, I think that’ll show.”
All unwavering proclamations of support are understandable. Starting with Drive No. 1 vs. the Dallas Cowboys, the entire 2023 Giants roster was sucked into a cyclone of misery. The offensive line was decimated. Jones was rendered a punching bag. It’s hard to imagine many quarterbacks, period, excelling at the foot of this avalanche. Goodwill earned from a playoff appearance in 2022 faded fast for Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll. So of course the man who signed Jones to a big contract is going to stand by his starter.
Yet, Schoen also knows this is Year 3 for himself and Daboll. Pressure is rising. Drafting a QB makes all the sense in the world.
His approach to building the Giants has been more tactical than tectonic. He didn’t see the need to tear the roster down and rebuild, instead inking the likes of Andrew Thomas (five years, $117.5 million), Dexter Lawrence (four years, $87.5M) and Jones (four years, $160 million) to contract extensions. Yet, the structure of Jones’ contract also gave the Giants the ability to draft a quarterback in the future.
Most GMs in the NFL spent their entire lives on the road… living off continental breakfasts at Marriotts… away from family… waiting for the opportunity to build their team around their quarterback. And Schoen, of course, saw firsthand what belief in a college quarterback can do. He was Brandon Beane’s right-hand man through the Buffalo Bills’ pursuit of Josh Allen. That Bills team climbed up the draft board for the raw flame-thrower out of Wyoming,
New York owns the No. 6 overall pick.
Even if Jones was a hybrid cross of Y.A. Tittle, Phil Simms and Eli Manning, there’s no escaping the reality that, since the start of the 2021 season, he has missed nine games due to different neck-related issues and then tore his ACL on Nov. 5. A breakout 2022 season led to his payday — the Giants had every reason to believe he was trending up — but Jones is also a mobile quarterback who has absorbed a ton of hits. He’s not a rhythm passer who’ll slice defenses up. He’s not drastically changing his play style at this point.
The time to pounce at quarterback for this regime is now.