New York Giants Release Embattled Quarterback Daniel Jones
Daniel Jones’ tenure with the New York Giants came to a stunning conclusion Friday morning when Big Blue officially released the veteran quarterback.
The release of Jones comes a day after the embattled quarterback gave a heartfelt speech thanking the organization for giving him an opportunity to start in New York.
At the time it was an odd presser since there was no indication, despite the fact he was benched in favor of third-stringer Tommy DeVito, that the Giants would outright release the quarterback from his contract, making him a free agent so quickly.
“I am extremely grateful to the Mara and Tisch families for the chance to play here. The Giants are truly a first-class organization and I have nothing but respect for the people who built it,” Jones said after practice on Thursday.
“I take full responsibility for bringing more wins,” he added. “I wish I could have done more. I did not play well consistently enough to get the results.”
On Friday, Giants owner and President John Mara stated that, in part, said that Jones had come to ownership and asked for his release.
Jones had a rough six years with the Giants. He was drafted in the first round of the 2019 draft to the chagrin of many Giants fans, who preferred the team draft defensive end Jared Allen, who is currently with the Jaguars.
Jones was really never given a chance by the fanbase, many of whom compared him to another ill-fated Giants first-round quarterback, Dave Brown.
In 70 games, Jones completed 64 percent of his passes for over 14,500 yards, 70 touchdowns, and 47 interceptions. While his stats weren’t terrible, the Giants didn’t win enough while he was here. It didn’t help matters that Jones played under three different head coaches (Pat Shurmer in 2019, Joe Judge in 2020 and 2021, and Brian Daboll).
In 2022 it felt briefly like Jones had finally turned the corner, posting his best statistical season. He threw for 3,205 yards, 15 touchdowns, and five picks, and completed 67 percent of his passes. The Giants went 9-7-1 that year and beat the Vikings in the wild-card round of the playoffs.
The Giants, in turn, rewarded Jones with a huge four-year, $160 million extension, which proved to be controversial, since running back Saquon Barkley was also seeking a long-term deal from Big Blue and didn’t get one.
Barkley as we all know, wound up in Philadelphia where he is a legit League MVP candidate this year.
The end of the Jones era means Big Blue will be looking for a quarterback in 2025. The Giants are expected to have a high draft pick in the draft to go up and grab one. Whether GM Joe Schoen and Head Coach Brian Daboll will be the ones making that call is another question that remains unanswered.
