CAST ADRIFT
Tough to judge Jones with struggling team
Louis Riddick isn’t ready to write off Daniel Jones just because he has fumbled or thrown an interception in all 20 games of his career. But he isn’t about to excuse Jones’ 11 giveaways (secondmost in the NFL this season) just because the quarterback is learning a new offense.
The best way for the Giants to determine if they truly have a franchise quarterback in Jones? Give him more weapons and more time.
“If he doesn’t correct it and it becomes a bigger problem, then you go to the next phase of the evaluation: Is this his surroundings or is this who he is now?” Riddick told The Post. “They are not at that point yet — and I don’t think anybody needs to be at that point until you get a more stable supporting cast, and you keep a coaching staff in place for more than one year.”
Riddick will be in the analyst’s chair for ESPN’s “Monday Night Football,” when the Giants face the Buccaneers. Three years ago, he was the runner-up to Dave Gettleman in the Giants’ general manager search. Two years ago, he favored Dwayne Haskins to Jones for the Giants’ No. 6 pick in the draft, and he could be months away from another round of interviews for GM vacancies.
More playmakers — not more draft picks — is a vote for the Giants to keep tight end Evan Engram at Tuesday’s trade deadline.
“You don’t trade those kinds of guys,” Riddick said. “The NFL is a league of selling hope, and one of the ways you can sell that is by saying, ‘Look at all these picks we have.’ That sounds fun, but maybe you should hold onto Engram instead of going out there into the great unknown and going, ‘I don’t know what kind of player I’m going to get, but I’ve got a nice third-rounder.’ ”
Engram has a disappointing 26 catches for 233 yards in what was supposed to be his breakout year under new offensive coordinator Jason Garrett. His drop against the Eagles last week likely cost the Giants a win.
“They try to find creative ways to get the ball to him,” Riddick said. “They are looking for 1-on-1 matchup situations where he is against the safety, but play-calling is a tricky thing when you are having a hard time running the football, a hard time protecting and the quarterback is having a hard time getting the ball out fast enough. It starts af
fecting all the plans you have for everyone else.”
Jones’ favorite target is Darius Slayton, who has 27 catches for 429 yards and three touchdowns. As the Giants build, is Slayton suited to be their No. 1 receiver or a complement?
“He’s not a No. 1 yet, but he’s working toward that,” Riddick said. “Maybe with a more diverse skill-set as far as the route tree he runs and his ability to win whether he’s inside or outside, whether it’s short, intermediate or deep, whether it’s run-after-catch and 50/50 balls. No. 1s win in all kind of environments. Right now, he would stand to benefit from having a true bona fide lead dog.”
Riddick compared how the Giants use Slayton as a backside receiver to the way the Cardinals use DeAndre Hopkins.
“The league respects the connection between him and Daniel because of how prolific they have been on the deep ball,” Riddick said. “He is a guy I have my eye on Monday because they know they are going to need the points, and he is their biggest home-run hitter.”
Forcing the ball to Slayton sometimes gets Jones in trouble. Riddick identified a formula behind Jones pressing and making bad decisions: Expectations for a high draft pick. Playing without some of his top weapons. Chatter about a winnable NFC East Division.
“You can’t make sweeping decisions about what kind of player he is going to be because there are too many things around him that are uncertain,” Riddick said. “The one thing he does need to cut down is turning over the football because then you have no shot of winning. If he keeps doing that, you are not going to win games. If you don’t win games, people look to replace you.”
Jones won a shootout against the Buccaneers in his first career start. He wasn’t facing Tom Brady then, and the Buccaneers didn’t have the look of a Super Bowl favorite. They do now.
“They are loaded — they just need to put it all together,” Riddick said. “Quite honestly, this is a game they need to make a statement. No disrespect, but the Giants are outmatched from a personnel standpoint. That doesn’t mean they can’t win it, but Tampa needs to win this game convincingly if they want people to consider them the favorite in the NFC.”