It’s officially Daniel Jones time in New York
The New York Giants officially named Daniel Jones the starter for week three Tuesday morning.
It’s the moment most of us have been waiting for – Daniel ‘Danny Dimes’ Jones has officially been named the starter for the Giants’ week three contest against Tampa Bay. While some may say this should have been the play from the get-go, the coaching staff deserves at least some credit for recognizing that this team is likely not going to compete this year, and in turn getting their number six-overall selection into the mix.
Many of Eli’s most ardent supporters will take this as a slight at the legendary Giant quarterback – that’s the wrong approach here. This move is not one that solely-blames Eli for all of Big Blue’s many problems, but one that puts the team’s long-term interests ahead of anything else.
Eli Manning has brought this team two Super Bowl wins, and been a role model while doing do — that doesn’t mean he deserves to be the starting quarterback for as long as he wants to, regardless of the state of the organization. Eli has been handsomely-rewarded as the highest-paid NFL player of all-time, something I doubt even the biggest Eli Manning fan would say he deserves. This organization has always done right by Eli, now it’s time for it to do right by itself.
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As time went on, it became apparent that the transition away from Eli was never going to be an easy one. When a player means so much to an organization, there are always going to be fans that are up-in-arms when that player’s best interests don’t align with the team’s anymore.
You can be a fan that appreciates everything Eli Manning has done for this team, without blaming him for the tumultuous last-few seasons, while still believing this is the right move. I don’t know why that is so-hard for some people to understand.
If the New York Giants had shown through two games that there was even a possibility they could compete for a playoff spot, there might be a rational conversation to be had about Eli remaining as the starter until late in the season – that hasn’t happened.
Eli Manning has shown that everything around him needs to be just-about perfect for him to succeed at this stage of is career, is that really advantageous for any team? For those that are going to argue that putting Daniel Jones in right now could stunt his career to the team being so bad, I ask you — wouldn’t we rather find out that Jones is not a guy that can elevate others, now, before it’s too late?
When you really look at it, though, this is not that bad of a situation for Jones to step-into. My main concern about putting in a young signal-caller would be the state of the offensive line. This offensive line is much-improved, and barring any injuries, is not the type of line that’s going to put Jones in an unwinnable situation.
Sure, his wide-receiving core could be a lot better (even though that argument makes my head spin, due to the OBJ trade). Danny Dimes will still get to work with the best runningback in football, as well as a lethal tight end in Evan Engram. I’m actually more interested in seeing how he does with less-talent on the outside, as if I take a quarterback in the top ten, I want that guy to be one that elevates everyone around him.
We’ll find out soon enough if that’s the kind of player that Daniel Jones is. The bottom line, though, is that this decision had to be made, now. Credit to Pat Shurmur (if he really had as-much say in this as we were led to believe) for making this call before the season got even-more out of hand.
How fun would it be for this team to be somewhat-competitive, with an exciting rookie quarterback at the helm? We’re about to find out.