It’s early in his career, but the New York Giants must learn from the Indianapolis Colts’ mistakes and not take their franchise quarterback for granted.
As of right now, myself and just about everyone reading this article was wrong about Daniel Jones. Heck, I even pleaded for the New York Giants to avoid him with their No. 17 pick, saying he wasn’t a legitimate first-round talent.
There’s no shame in being wrong, and I’m very glad I was wrong. So far through his first eight starts, Jones is completing 63% of his passes for 1,985 yards, 15 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions. Of course, he’s still a rookie and has a lot to improve on, mainly pocket awareness and holding on to the ball, but to say he’s exceeded initial expectations is an understatement.
So, now that the G-Men have their signal caller of the future, what’s next? Overall, there are still a lot of holes throughout the roster, most noticeably along the offensive line and defense. The good news is there is a lot of young talent that can turn into key contributors down the road, and there are plenty of free agents for the front office to chase in the off-season.
The current situation this organization and front office are in draws a lot of comparisons to the Indianapolis Colts circa 2011. After Peyton Manning was sidelined for the season with a bulging disc in his neck, the Colts rotated between Curtis Painter, Dan Orlovsky, and Kerry Collins to lead them to a 2-14 record, their worst record since a 1-15 campaign in 1991.
With the No. 1 overall pick secured and a generational talent in Andrew Luck patiently standing by in Palo Alto, California, the Colts released Manning after 14 seasons and began preparations for their next franchise quarterback.
Now I understand that the Colts were a perennial power before their 2-14 season, winning more than 10 games the previous 9 seasons, and that Andrew Luck was considered the best quarterback prospect in decades. Stark contrasts from where the New York Giants were leading up to this year’s draft and how Daniel Jones was viewed as a quarterback prospect.
However, both franchises were moving on from their long time, Super Bowl MVP Manning bros to start a new era with a highly-drafted, talented quarterback.
We know how Andrew Luck’s career played out. He lived up to the hype when he was healthy and led the Colts to three straight 11-win seasons in his first three years. Eventually, constant injuries derailed his career, eventually becoming too much to handle. Shortly before the start of the 2019 season, Andrew Luck retired after just a six year career.
So, what can the G-Men learn from Andrew Luck’s career and how does it apply to Daniel Jones?
For starters, a lot of the blame for Luck’s short and injury-riddled career fell on the shoulders of the Indianapolis Colts’ front office and their incompetence. General Manager Ryan Grigson failed, early in Luck’s career, to surround him with a suitable offensive line and weapons on offense.
Year after year, through the draft and free agency, the front office couldn’t put together an offensive line to consistently protect Luck. From 2013 to 2017, only once was the first round pick used on an offensive lineman – center Ryan Kelly from Alabama. Tackle Jack Mewhort was taken in the second round of the 2014 Draft, but retired after just four years.
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If you’re a New York Giants fan you can clearly draw the parallels between the early going of Luck’s career and what we’ve seen so far from Daniel Jones. The difference, obviously, is Luck and the Colts were winning, but the poor offensive line play still led to a lot of sacks and a lot of quarterback hits, and those eventually catch up to you.
In Luck’s’ rookie season, he was sacked 41 times and hit 116 times which was the second most hits taken in the league. So far this season, Daniel Jones has been sacked 32 times and hit another 81, with those 81 hits being the second most in the league as well.
Between 2012 and 2016, Andrew Luck was sacked 183 times and hit a ridiculous 578 times. He was consistently one of the most hit quarterbacks in the league over that time period. As much of an iron man as he was, not everyone can be Eli Manning. Playing an entire career getting hit that much is not sustainable, and cost Luck 26 games throughout his career, including the entire 2017 season.
The same has to be assumed for Daniel Jones. He is tough, and it’s easy to pop back up as a young, hot-shot 22-year old. This is what Luck kept doing, over and over, and that was taken for granted by the Colts and their front office until Luck eventually didn’t get up.
He missed the entire 2017 season due to a torn labrum in his right shoulder, and in his absence the front office finally realized they had to upgrade at offensive line – six years into his career.
After taking guard Quenton Nelson with the No. 6 overall pick and guard Braden Smith with the No. 37 pick in 2018, the offensive line upgrade – shockingly – allowed Luck to not only have arguably the best statistical year of his career, but get sacked and hit less than he ever had before.
Playing all 16 games, Luck was sacked a league-low 18 times and hit just 77 times.
It’s almost like investing in keeping your franchise quarterback upright and healthy is important to the success of your team.
Now, I’m sure you’re asking why I didn’t just write an article about why the G-Men need to improve their offensive line for their rookie quarterback, because that’s obvious. The point here is the New York Giants can’t take their franchise quarterback for granted.
Admittedly, Dave Gettleman and the front office have tried to improve the offensive line. With the additions of Will Hernandez, Nate Solder, Mike Remmers, and Kevin Zeitler, the front five has had a major face-lift from the dark days of Bobby Hart and Ereck Flowers.
The key is to understand that it’s not good enough in the long run. The only pieces that will be here for multiple years down the road should be Hernandez and possibly Zeitler. Finding a franchise left tackle needs to be a priority for this team, hopefully by way of the NFL Draft.
Continued front office incompetence and an unwillingness to make sure your young signal caller is taken care of will ultimately come back to hurt the franchise, either in the short term through Jones missing games due to injury and continued fumbles, or long term with him ultimately cutting his career short.
The best part about other people’s mistakes is you can learn from them without making them yourself. The Indianapolis Colts absolutely wasted a Hall of Fame career with Andrew Luck through years of failing to build a suitable offensive line and team around him.
After the type of harassment Daniel Jones has seen this year, the same blueprint seems to be in place for the New York Giants and their front office. Hopefully they are smart enough to understand how important it is to build around Jones, starting with the offensive line.
Daniel Jones isn’t Eli Manning, just like Andrew Luck wasn’t Peyton Manning. Don’t take him for granted and assume he will keep getting back up every single time, because you will fail him like the Colts failed Andrew Luck.