2021 a key year for Giants’ Daniel Jones

It’s Year 5 of the rebuild and the New York Giants’ faithful are more than ready to see some winning football.

Toward that end, Big Blue GM Dave Gettleman made a few moves this offseason to bring in offensive talent via free agency (WRs Kenny Golladay and John Ross III, TE Kyle Rudolph) and the draft (WR Kadarius Toney) to give some life to an attack that ranked second-to-last in 2020, ahead of only their MetLife Stadium co-tenants, the New York Jets.

It also gives Daniel Jones some weapons to work with. This is a make-or-break year for the third year signal caller. In an era when rookie quarterbacks are expected to perform at a high level right away, the Giants’ patience with Jones, whose drafting with the sixth overall pick in 2019 raised eyebrows, is an exception to what has become the rule. But that patience is wearing thin.

And rightly so. The Giants’ record in Jones’s starts over the past two seasons is 8-18 and he’s consistently ranked in the bottom third of the league in many key categories, right there among journeymen and potential trade pieces. True, he was without explosive runner Saquon Barkley last year but now he’s back and presumably healthy. Given his return and the team’s offseason moves, there are no more excuses.

The future is now for Jones and the Giants, and they can be seen in action Thursday, Sept. 16, when they drop in on the Washington Football Team in a game airing on NFL Network.