CAN DAN BE THE MANN?
Giants dropping hints that Jones has chance to start Week 1
The Giants have plenty of reasons to sell Daniel Jones as impressive and precocious, given the rampant criticism of his sixth overall selection in April.
The coaching staff’s enthusiasm for Jones seems genuine, however, and grounded in the offseason progress their rookie quarterback appears to have made through last week’s mandatory minicamp into the final week of OTAs.
Offensive coordinator Mike Shula, in particular, seems smitten.
“He’s fast, got good feet in the pocket and he’s got good quickness, too,” Shula said at minicamp last week. “He’s a good athlete. He’s one of those guys if you’re playing a pickup game in any sport, you’re probably gonna pick him pretty close to No. 1.
“He’s got a fast mind, picks things up pretty well,” Shula added. “He’s
very serious about his job … You see that maturity level … And if he has a bad play, an interception or a forced throw or mental error, at least right now it doesn’t bother him. He goes on to the next play and really wants to make sure he doesn’t do it again.”
The great question, of course, is whether Jones has played well enough to turn this into a training camp competition with Eli Manning or if there is nothing he can do to earn a look for a Week 1 start.
There is a perception that because the Giants kept Manning around and paid him a $5 million roster bonus that it’s a foregone conclusion this is his job for most of the 2019 season.
However, Pat Shurmur said something again last week that indicated Jones could be pushing the envelope.
Shurmur said Jones has a “downfield focus” when surveying the field, which is one reason he was attempting and completing some deep throws at minicamp. Then Shurmur said:
“That’s part of what’s going to help him be successful early.”
You have to listen to what the coaches are saying here.
Shula said even before OTAs started that if Jones were in a different situation, he believes Jones would be “ready to go” to play in Week 1 as a rookie. Shurmur then said three times on May 20, the first day of OTAs, that Jones needed to prepare to be “ready to play Week 1.”
The message is clear even to Manning that “I need to play well, and I need to play well early,” but more than that, the coaches’ consistent praise for Jones and references to his ability to contribute early have been eye-opening.
You almost have to wonder if Shurmur and Shula are indirectly appealing to ownership to consider letting Jones win this starting job outright if his play on the field shows he deserves it.
And don’t tell me GM Dave Gettleman, even with his affection and appreciation for Manning, would stand in the way of seeing his rookie play his way onto the field early enough to shove in his critics’ faces.
Jones wasn’t perfect at minicamp by any means. He made mistakes. He did throw a nice ball, though, completed some impressive deep throws, showed off his mobility and speed on a read-option, and demonstrated he wasn’t in over his head.
Jones didn’t talk to the assembled media during minicamp, but at Lan
don Collins’ charity softball game on Saturday, the rookie QB admitted he was encouraged. He had started the three-day camp splitting second-team reps with Alex Tanney, and by Thursday he had the secondteam all to himself.
“Yeah, I think I improved,” Jones said Saturday night at Palisades
Credit Union Park in Pomona. “Every day I think that’s the goal. Did some things better, did some things not as good. I think the challenge for me is to be consistent. I’m learning a lot, trying to learn as fast as I can. But yeah, it was a good week.” His peers respect him, too.
C.J. Conrad, an undrafted free agent tight end out of Kentucky, roomed with Jones during rookie minicamp in early May and caught several passes from Jones at mandatory minicamp, including two TDs during Wednesday’s red zone period.
And Conrad said as early as rookie minicamp, just a week after Jones had been drafted, the quarterback’s intelligence and ability were obvious.
“He just picks up on things a lot faster than all of us other rookies. He just does. It’s impressive,” Conrad told the Daily News last Thursday. “I noticed it right away at rookie minicamp when we were rooming together. We were going through scripts and he was learning how to call the play in the huddle, and then I would say what I would have on the play. And it was just unbelievable he’d be able to say what everyone had on that play, and we’d only been there for one day.”
Again, this was only eight days after the Giants had drafted Jones.
“I saw it right away how impressive he’s been and how mentally ahead he is,” Conrad said. “And he also throws a really good football. I know everyone talks about how smart he is, but he’s a good football player, too.”
Even Manning admitted last week that Jones has “done a good job” and “throws the ball well.”
Now the question is what this all adds up to: is this simply good publicity to keep the fan base hopeful in the face of another likely losing season? Or are all these quotes an indication that Jones really is threatening to make this a competition if ownership will let it be so?
We won’t get that answer at Tuesday’s final availability of OTAs, when Jones is expected to talk. We’ll only truly know come late July when training camp opens.
For now, though, the preference of the Giants’ coaches seems to be that they give the kid a chance.