Daniel Jones has been through a whirlwind in the past 14 months. After completing his best season ever, which saw the Duke product lead the New York Giants to the playoffs, his 2023 season fell into disarray.
After signing a $160 million deal, Jones regressed hard in 2023. He also dealt with multiple injuries and went down for the season with a torn ACL in Week 9. After a brief period of Tommy DeVito taking the league by storm, the Giants finished the year 6-11.
Since then, the discourse surrounding Jones, and the quarterbacks that the Giants have met with in recent weeks, has only grown stronger.
Was Drew Lock told He Could Compete With Daniel Jones?
On March 12th, just two days into 2024 Free Agency, Drew Lock was signed by the Giants. General Manager John Schnider would soon come out and claim to the press that Lock was “sold” on competing with Daniel Jones for the starting job. Since then, multiple Giants sources and Lock himself have denied this claim.
Speaking to the Athletic’s Dan Duggan, Lock would have this to say:
“Daniel Jones is the starter of this team. That’s been conveyed to me.”
While it may be true that brass still has faith in Daniel Jones, that faith was seemingly further tested in recent weeks with other meetings with prospective quarterbacks.
What Was the Purpose of the Russell Wilson Meeting?
On the same day Wilson would fly to meet with Steelers ownership, he would first meet with the Giants. During their “exploratory meeting”, Wilson would be allegedly informed of the exact same set of circumstances Lock was: that the Giants were preparing to move forward and have Daniel Jones be the day one starter in 2024.
Wilson would turn and sign with Pittsburgh not long after on a 1.2 million dollar Veteran Minimum contract. However, some within the organization do believe that Daniel Jones’s durability and his chance to start Week 1 of the 2024 NFL Season remain in question.
How Will The Giants Approach the Number 6 Overall Pick?
During the fracas of Week 1 of the 2024 Free Agency, the Houston Texans traded their 23rd overall pick to the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings, as a result, have pre-positioned themselves to sweep ahead of the Giants to get into the top 3 selections. The price of going into the top 3 may be too steep for New York, and not helping matters is the loss of the team’s 39th overall pick on day 2 in the Brian Burns trade.
J.J. McCarthy has frequently been linked to the Giants, but Minnesota will potentially engage in talks with the Cardinals and Chargers, owners of the 4th and 5th overall picks, to take him. Others like the Las Vegas Raiders and Denver Broncos may also be seeking moves to get ahead of the Giants for a quarterback.
Alternatively, Bo Nix or Michael Penix remain options for the Giants on Day 2 of the NFL Draft, where they possess the 47th and 70th overall picks, or they can trade back into the end of the first round for the services of either of these former PAC-12 quarterbacks.