EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — It was September 10, 2023, the first game for Daniel Jones and the New York Giants since the quarterback signed a four-year, $160 million contract seven months earlier.
Jones suffered 23 dropbacks and was sacked seven times during a 40-0 home loss to the Dallas Cowboys. His top pass protector, left tackle Andrew Thomas, suffered a hamstring injury and didn’t return until the second half of this season.
Things went badly for Jones and the Giants after signing that mega-deal, and the deterioration happened quickly.
Jones was released Friday, 439 days after the Cowboys dismantled him. He had won three of 16 starts, throwing 10 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions before being benched in favor of Tommy DeVito. Jones, 27, went to the Giants on Friday to request his release a day after spending part of Thursday’s practice playing safety on the scout team. The Giants and Jones decided it was best for the sides to part ways with seven games remaining in the season.
“Of course, this season has been disappointing for everyone and, of course, I wish I could have done more,” Jones said Thursday in what was essentially his farewell press conference. “I am 100% responsible for my role. I did not play well enough, nor consistently enough, to help the team get results.”
Things didn’t get much better after this loss against the Cowboys. Jones played well in the second half the following week at Arizona, but by Week 4 of the 2023 season, Jones could be seen by a national audience getting sacked 10 times and throwing a pick six in a blowout loss on “Monday Night Football.” ” to the Seattle Seahawks at MetLife Stadium.
He was never healthy again in 2023. Jones injured his neck while getting hit late in a loss to the Miami Dolphins the following week. He returned four weeks later to tear the ACL in his right knee in the first quarter against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Suddenly, his season was over. So was any viable chance of making it in New York.
“Some of that is probably due to injuries,” DeVito said. “Last year [Jones] He messed up a lot during games and probably wasn’t fully healthy at all times. But he always went out there and gave it his all. Sometimes he probably wasn’t able to get the best version of himself. It’s probably not fair to him, but… when you’re going to play, you’re going to play.”
Jones will ultimately be judged on the final results, which haven’t been good since a playoff victory in 2022, the most successful season of his career. He finished this season sixth in the NFL with a 62.9 QBR, but ranks 26th among qualifying quarterbacks with a 53.0 QBR since entering the league in 2019.
The Giants flirted with drafting a quarterback last offseason, a key topic highlighted on HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” which chronicled the team’s preseason. The program showed coach Brian Daboll in a pre-draft meeting, being asked if he would trade for Jayden Daniels.
“Daniel?” Daboll said. “I would like.”
General manager Joe Schoen was also heard telling the New England Patriots to keep the Giants in mind if they wanted to trade the third overall pick. Common sense says the Giants have never traded for a non-quarterback, especially after sources confirmed their strong interest in Drake Maye. The North Carolina product was ultimately selected No. 3 overall by the Patriots.
Multiple sources close to the quarterback believe the public search for a quarterback has affected Jones, putting additional pressure on him early in the season. Not only was he coming back from a serious knee injury, but Jones was now carrying that burden to achieve immediate success.
Jones clearly wasn’t the same quarterback this season as he is in 2022. His accuracy — which has never been among Jones’ biggest concerns in the past — has been an issue from the start of training camp. At times this summer, he was constantly throwing deep balls. In an effort to correct himself, Jones admitted his reversal. This acknowledgment perhaps details the internal battle he faced after knee surgery and two neck injuries.
Even with the perception that he had improved his receivers, notably dazzling rookie Malik Nabers, Jones’ confidence did not appear high and several players told ESPN that his relationship with Daboll seemed different. One sometimes described it as “weird.”
The tension seemed to surface in front of an international audience watching the Giants play the Carolina Panthers in Germany two weeks ago. Daboll, who took over this season to try to fix a broken offense, called for a chip-flicker on a third-and-1. Two receivers were wide open but Jones failed to throw the ball.
Daboll was shown on television screaming as he ran to the sidelines. After about 20 yards, he ran into one of the open wide receivers, Wan’Dale Robinson, and slapped his hand. They both seemed to know there was a big play to play. Several Giants players were watching the game together on their phones when media entered the locker room at Allianz Stadium.
It seemed obvious at that point that the Giants would soon move on from Jones, whose QBR this season is a career-worst 46.5. They surprisingly turned to DeVito, the third-stringer and emergency quarterback for every game this season, over sophomore Drew Lock.
Whatever the reasons for the decision, Jones had hit rock bottom during the team’s five-game losing streak, signaling his end with the Giants. He was benched, then released. The contract will go down as one of the worst in Giants history. His tenure will ultimately be considered a failure, with one winning season in six years.
“Playing in New York didn’t help,” receiver and close friend Darius Slayton said. “The media pressure is so immense on the coach and the players. It will end up getting worse.”
