Joe Judge reaffirms Daniel Jones is NY Giants’ franchise QB … Should he be?

NY Giants coach Joe Judge sounds committed to hitching his future to Daniel Jones, but Jones’ results haven’t exactly rewarded the organization’s faith

For the past two weeks, NY Giants head coach Joe Judge has reaffirmed his commitment to Daniel Jones as the team’s franchise quarterback for 2021 and beyond, but the second-year signal caller has done little to reward that faith.

“I’m not a huge fan of Jones,” a former NFL scouting director tells GMenHQ on the condition of anonymity to speak freely. “The same issues he had at Duke show up now. They should be looking for a quarterback this offseason, but Gettleman won’t.”

Through his first 26 games, Jones has completed 62 percent of his passes for 5,741 yards with 33 touchdowns but 43 total turnovers.

Apparently, that’s enough to sell Judge on hitching his wagon to the quarterback chosen No. 6 overall in the 2019 NFL Draft.

"“You always want to know about is Daniel our guy,” Judge told reporters, unprompted on Monday. “Are we going forward with Daniel? The answer is absolutely.“What gives us that confidence is even in games like [Sunday] where it didn’t come out perfectly, you can turn the tape on and you can say, ‘hey listen, in games one through whatever, that wasn’t the guy we were looking at.’ You watch the tape and you see that guy in there operating, excuting, understanding how to take the hit and deliver an accurate pass and move the sticks down field. These are things that as he grows in this league and develops in his craft, he’s going to be able to do. As we get going and we build more into this scheme, he’ll be be able to handle it in different ways.”"

Jones has been limited in recent weeks by a right hamstring injury and sprained left ankle, but through his first 25 starts the Giants are just 7-18.

Even prior to Jones’ injury in Week 12, it had become evident that he had regressed in his second season, with just eight passing touchdowns and nine interceptions while averaging just 212 passing yards per game prior to getting hurt.

For the season, Jones has completed 62 percent of his passes for 2,714 yards with nine touchdowns, nine interceptions, and his 72.7 passing grade from Pro Football Focus ranks 20th among quarterbacks with a qualifying number of snaps.

“Jones is a great practice player,” the scouting director says. “But, when the lights go on and it’s 11-on-11, he struggles. Plus, his ball security in the pocket is just awful.”

To that end, Jones has fumbled 10 times and lost five of them in 13 games this season alone.

Whether it has been the byproduct of a second scheme in two years or the loss of running back Saquon Barkley in Week 2, there’s no doubt that Jones has faced challenges in his second season. He’s simply failed to meet them.

The Giants also share a burden of blame for Jones’ struggles after not signing a free agent wide receiver last offseason or dipping into one of the deepest draft classes at the position in recent memory.

Certainly, there is merit to the Giants’ attempt to build an offensive line in front of Jones by drafting left tackle Andrew Thomas No. 4 overall. But, that offensive line has allowed 43 sacks. But, for as glaring a need as defensive help is, might the Giants have been wiser to choose a wide receiver such as Laviska Shenault, K.J. Hamler, Chase Claypool, or Van Jefferson in the second-round over safety Xavier McKinney?

The Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs, and Arizona Cardinals have seen almost immediate success by bolstering the skill players around Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, and Kyler Murray.

Buffalo traded Stefon Diggs to pair with Cole Beasley, Murray’s meteoric rise is tied to the acquisitions of DeAndre Hopkins and Christian Kirk the past two years, and Mahomes’ supporting cast might be the most explosive assemblage of talent in modern NFL history.

In the not so distant past, the Eagles won a Super Bowl in Carson Wentz’s second season and Wentz as an MVP front runner before getting injured in Week 15, after Philadelphia signed an in his prime Alshon Jeffrey. The Los Angeles Rams went to a Super Bowl after signing Brandin Cooks and dropping him into an offense with an elite running game led by Todd Gurley.

By contrast, the Giants signed Golden Tate in free agency in 2019 and drafted Darius Slayton in the fifth-round.

While there is an element of the age old “chicken or egg” debate when it comes to quarterback talent or the talent around him being more important, Jones has minimally made the players around him that much better in his first two seasons.

The Giants, in the lead up to last April’s NFL Draft, had legitimate interest in Justin Herbert one year after coveting the former Oregon quarterback before the ultimately opted to return to school. If the Giants were even tacitly considering taking Herbert in April, what could have possibly changed based on Jones’ performance to enforce their belief in him next season?

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If the Giants lose to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, there is a scenario where they could pick as high as No. 3 in the NFL Draft, perhaps within reach of BYU’s quarterback Zach Wilson or Ohio State’s Justin Fields after Trevor Lawrence puts on his teal and gold Jaguars hat.

As the Cardinals’ trading former first-round pick Josh Rosen before his second year after trading up for Murray, and the Washington Football Team moving on from 2019 first-round pick Dwayne Haskins after a disastrous season both on and off the field, and the Eagles ripping the band aid off and replacing former No. 2 overall pick Carson Wentz with second-round rookie Jalen Hurts illustrate, until you have an elite quarterback a franchise is simply spinning its wheels at the most important position in sports.

Jones has full control over the tape that he puts out and the performance he puts forth in the most consequential game of his NFL career Sunday against the Cowboys. His output to date, though, doesn’t measure up to the commitment Judge and the Giants have made.

Matt Lombardo is the site expert for GMenHQ, and writes Between The Hash Marks each Wednesday for FanSided. Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattLombardoNFL.