It seems more and more possible Daniel Jones has played himself out of the Giants' starting lineup. A day after head coach Brian Daboll was noncommittal about Jones' status as New York's starting quarterback, general manager Joe Schoen made similar comments regarding Jones' role with the team moving forward.
Schoen was specifically asked if Jones' contract would factor into any decision regarding his status as the Giants' QB1, as it's been rumored Jones' $23 million injury guarantee in 2025 could lead to the team benching him. The Broncos did this a year ago when they benched now-Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson to avoid paying out his $37 million guarantee for this season.
"We're going to evaluate everything the rest of the week," Schoen said Tuesday, "and the decisions we make will be football decisions. … Any decisions we make, moving forward, as we evaluate the roster and what we're doing for the final seven games will be football decisions."
The recent comments by Daboll and Schoen would certainly suggest Jones has a very iffy future in New York, which is currently on its bye week. Jones and the Giants are in the middle of a 2-8 season that has largely been the result of a woefully underperforming offense. They are currently last in the NFL in scoring, 24th in passing, 20th in third-down efficiency and last in red-zone efficiency.
Jones has obviously contributed to the Giants' offensive woes. While there have been moments where Jones' potential is on display, they are overshadowed by inaccurate throws, bad decisions or costly mistakes, such as Jones forgetting to send a man in motion to help block Steelers pass rusher T.J. Watt on the play that Watt recorded a crucial strip sack and fumble recovery near the end of New York's loss to Pittsburgh back in Week 8.
Jones' struggles are nothing new. He threw three times as many picks than touchdown passes last season. And while he showed promise during his rookie season and during the 2022 season, Jones hasn't been able to build off that success.
Despite that fact, Schoen and the Giants didn't have a provisional plan at quarterback for the 2024 season in the event that Jones struggled. That decision is one of the reasons why the Giants are in their current situation. The Giants could have made a stronger push for Wilson, for example, prior to him signing with the Steelers upon his release from Denver.
"No," Schoen said when asked if he would have done anything differently this offseason regarding his quarterback room. "You go through the process of free agency. ... Players decide where they wanna go and what they wanna do. Some of that stuff's out of your control."