It’s Over
Breaking up is hard, but at this point the Giants are used to it. It’s time for them to dump Daniel Jones.
No it’s not the perfect time, but it never is. The relationship is unsalvageable, the sooner everyone realizes that the better.
Tyrod Taylor should start week 1.
It’s been a rough decade for Giants fans. We’ve had to swallow a lot of bitter pills.
Watching icons like Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning end their careers fired and benched was harsh. Watching teams coached by Ben McAdoo, Pat Shurmur, and Joe Judge was somehow worse. Daniel Jones is not good enough to make up for the years of horrendous management.
Deep down, we all know this to be true. New head coach Brian Daboll is already laying the groundwork for such a change.
Two weeks ago, Giants beat reporter Dan Duggan tweeted about Jones being replaced by Taylor for a play in training camp. The following week SNY’s Connor Hughes reported about Taylor getting more reps with the first team. Of course, Daboll has played this down as always being part of the plan, but what other young franchise quarterback is seeing their first team reps being given to backups?
Is Justin Herbert seeing his reps go to Chase Daniel? Or is Josh Allen seeing snaps taken from him by Case Keenum? What about Kyler Murray in favor of Colt McCoy?
Of course not.
Daniel Jones was not drafted by Daboll or his boss, new general manager Joe Schoen. They are not loyal to him and will replace him the second their jobs are on the line. That day may come sooner than they care to realize.
Three of the Giants first five games are against playoff teams, including bouts against the prior seasons’ top seeds from the NFC and AFC. It’s not hard to imagine a scenario where they start the season 1–4 with losses to the Titans, Panthers, Cowboys, and Packers. If Daniel Jones hasn’t shown dramatic improvement by then, is anyone convinced he makes it to week six as the starter?
More importantly, is anyone convinced Jones can still be the Giants’ franchise quarterback?
In 37 starts, Jones has completed 62.8% of his passes, tossing 45 touchdowns to 29 interceptions. These fairly pedestrian statistics have led the Giants to a 12–25 record in that span. If the sixth pick in the 2019 NFL Draft were not spent on him, these numbers would simply not be good enough for Jones to still occupy the starting job.
By contrast, Tyrod Taylor has a winning record as a starting quarterback of 27–25–1. His completion percentage is on par with that of Jones at 61.3% while tossing 59 touchdowns. Most importantly, despite throwing 274 more passes than Jones, Taylor has thrown less interceptions (25).
Furthermore, Daniel Jones has fumbled 36 times in his career, losing 20 of them. Tyrod Taylor has fumbled 23 times, losing only 5.
The Giants are more likely to win games with Tyrod Taylor under center than they are with Daniel Jones. We know what we are getting with Taylor, and while it’s stunningly average, it’s less catastrophic than Jones. If Jones were a sixth round pick like Taylor, and not sixth overall, this wouldn’t even be a discussion.
This is all harsh to say. Breakups are always ugly. And this is not all Jones’ fault.
Daboll is Jones’ third head coach in four years, he’s played behind some of the worst offensive lines in the history of the sport, and in an era of offensive innovation the schemes he has been asked to execute are downright remedial. But Daboll is clearly not sold on him and any signs of early woes will lead to his benching. Why not just do it now?
Daboll and Schoen will have to lead a rebuild for an organization that doesn’t merely need new tiles or floors, but instead for one where mice are living in the fridge, the bedroom is covered in cobwebs, and asbestos rots the drywall. Removing Jones won’t fix everything but it will turn the page for a franchise that needs to start a new chapter completely, if not write an entire new book.
Taylor will represent only the present while Daboll and Schoen hope that the quarterback of the future lands in their laps. Taylor is safe, if uninspiring. As it relates to Daboll, whose three most recent predecessors were all sacked after their second seasons, he’d rather be safe than fired.
As it relates to Daniel Jones, I’m sorry. It’s not you, it’s the Giants.
