Daniel Jones proving he can be a leader for NY Giants this offseason
After a promising rookie season, NY Giants quarterback Daniel Jones is inspiring confidence by doing all the right things this offseason.
Usually, when a new head coach takes over they want their own quarterback to start with. While I wasn’t at NY Giants headquarters when they were deciding on bringing on Joe Judge – a coach who had never even been a coordinator in the NFL – I’d imagine that conversation went a little bit differently about Daniel Jones.
I’m not sure if it was an ultimatum of sorts, but unless Bill Belichick was the coach being brought on I would think a requirement the NY Giants had for their new head coach would be having Daniel Jones be their guy at quarterback.
Luckily, that seems to be the case anyway, as Judge has finally started to speak on Daniel Jones and his comments show a coach that’s thrilled with the way his second-year quarterback has handled this wild offseason.
"“He was fun to work with this spring. And I’m very encouraged by him,” Judge said. “There is a lot more to him personality-wise. He’s really stepped out and emerged … He comes in really urgent. He’s competitive. “Look, you can tell the guys respect him,” Judge said. “I’m very interested and anxious to get him on the field and start working. I think our entire quarterback room as a whole has done a really, really good job this spring.”"
In the world of Joe Judge media bites, that’s about as glowing of a review as a NY Giants player has gotten so far, and Daniel Jones deserves it for all the hard work and organizing he’s put in this season.
From a physical standpoint, he’s even rumored to have put on as much as 10 pounds, which should make him more durable for the long term.
What has Daniel Jones been doing to prove he can be the leader of the NY Giants’?
When Daniel Jones was drafted, many ‘experts’ opined that he may not be cut out to be a leader in a place like New York due to his quiet and humble nature (sound familiar). He even echoed those sentiments himself at one point.
"“I’ve never been the loudest guy,” Jones said last year when asked to describe his personality. “But I wouldn’t describe myself as shy or waiting around for other people.”"
So, even he was selling himself short based on what he’s been able to accomplish during this crazy pandemic filled offseason.
Most importantly, Daniel Jones stepped up and put his money where his mouth was by setting up and unofficial de-facto NY Giants mini-camp with his skill players in Austin, Texas.
Many players have filtered in and out, including Golden Tate, Kaden Smith, and Darius Slayton to name a few. The work these guys are getting done together should pay off major dividends, especially if the rest of the quarterbacks around the league haven’t been as vigilant.
Daniel Jones could have played it safe in fear of COVID – and been well within his right to do so – but instead, he’s out here putting in hard work and inspiring his guys to do the same. Sounds like a leader to me.
And make no mistake about it, he was the one who spearheaded these workouts which is a huge factor.
“He’s our leader,” one player recently told ESPN.
Even further, he’s being given input into how Jason Garrett’s offense will run, which is important. It shows the coaching staff is shifting from a totalitarian regime like McAdoo and Shurmur ran which ended up being part of their fatal flaws.
This coaching staff says they will listen to their best players for their input and build around their strengths – namely Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley. For instance, taking advantage of Jones being able to move well and throw the ball downfield – sometimes at the same time – and Barkley having most of his success on outside zone runs.
"“I had some great conversations with Daniel,” Judge said. “He’s not afraid to tell you things that are a tough conversation. He’s not afraid to tell you what he thinks, which is the way you gotta be.”"
3 Bargain pass rushers for the Giants to pursue. dark. Next
Sounds like we’ve got our leader on our hands, and most importantly our head coach is right in sync with him.