NY Giants news: Phil Simms says Daniel Jones can have a good year

While many NY Giants fans are wondering if Daniel Jones can succeed in Year 3, Phil Simms is thinking the added weaponry will sure help in 2021.

There’s no debating the fact NY Giants quarterback Daniel Jones is under a lot of pressure heading into 2021.

The No. 6 overall pick from the 2019 NFL Draft certainly is running out of excuses. And after the G-Men spent the better part of the offseason bulking up the offensive weaponry around him, it’ll ultimately be up to Jones to determine whether or not he’ll remain as the franchise’s centerpiece moving forward.

While Jones has his doubters, legendary Giants quarterback and current CBS Sports sportscaster Phil Simms remains an advocate.

Why would Simms think so? Well, because of the things New York has done to support its first-round pick.

Simms told CBS Sports the following:

"Just in my opinion, I think (the Giants are) all in on Daniel Jones. That’s what I think. When you look at what they’ve done — they go out and draft in the first round, Kadarius Toney — that tells you something. They sign John Ross, they paid Kenny Golladay all that money. Saquon Barkley’s coming back, they’re trying to fix the offensive line, hope it comes through to what they believe it will be.What does that tell you? Their number one goal is to make sure their quarterback has a good year."

It might be understandable why Jones struggled the last two years despite flashing signs of brilliance here and there. A major coaching change from his rookie season, going from Pat Shurmur to Joe Judge between 2019 and 2020, can be rough on many a young quarterback. The loss of a top offensive weapon like running back Saquon Barkley last year didn’t exactly help either.

“Their number one goal is to make sure their quarterback has a good year.” — Phil Simms on Daniel Jones, NY Giants

That said, Jones’ 29 fumbles over the last two years is a massive red flag, and one of the big areas where analysts and fans need to see improvement is with him protecting the ball.

That’d go a long way towards ensuring Jones remains in a NY Giants uniform for the long run.

NY Giants are doing everything they can to help Daniel Jones succeed

One of the key ways to give Jones more confidence under center was to support him with the needed weaponry around him.

Chief among these moves was to sign Golladay, of course, who many think is a top-10 wide receiver in the league. Ross, the speedster, provides that field-stretching threat, while the signing of veteran tight end Kyle Rudolph could end up being one of the keys to give Jones the perfect big-target safety valve.

Related Story: Kyle Rudolph could be critical for Daniel Jones’ development

Simply put, the G-Men are doing whatever they can to make sure Jones won’t have to bear the brunt of the offensive burden.

Cutting down on turnovers will be key, of course. There’s no doubting that. But even with the added weaponry, what would constitute success from Jones?

Simms didn’t think it had to be a “Super Bowl or bust” kind of season, however:

"If the Giants go 8-9 and Daniel Jones plays well and you can see that he’s the guy, Giants fans will be happy. But if they go 8-9 and he doesn’t play well, then we’re gonna have that debate. “Oh, should they draft a quarterback, should they do this,” or whatever. So it’s really a fine line there. But I think if he plays well, that will make a lot of people feel good regardless of the record."

What makes things even more interesting, however, is just how wide-open the NFC East is. Not necessarily the laughingstock division of the NFL any longer, one could make the argument it’s essentially a three-team race between the NY Giants, Washington Football Team and the Dallas Cowboys.

Even with the questions surrounding Jones, New York’s next-to-last scoring offense from a year ago is massively improved and should be better than the abysmal showing that was seen last year.

That’s good news, too, even if Jones struggles.

If he does, however, those conversations about using one of two first-round picks in next year’s NFL Draft on a quarterback replacement will get louder.

In the meantime, however, the NY Giants have effectively done all they can to ensure the context surrounding Jones is as positive as it can possibly be.