• A disastrous season all around: Jones threw six interceptions to just two touchdowns, averaging only 5.7 yards per attempt. He recorded a 4.1% turnover-worthy play rate, the highest since his rookie year. And that was all before tearing his ACL and being lost for the season.
• Outperformed by Tyrod Taylor: In relief of Jones in Weeks 6, 7 and 8, the 13-year veteran threw the same number of touchdown passes in around half the dropbacks. He recorded seven big-time throws to Jones’ four and a turnover-worthy play rate that ranked among the best in the league.
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Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes
The New York Giants gambled and lost with quarterback Daniel Jones.
Teams take calculated risks all of the time. Some work out. Some don’t. And this is one that looked like a mistake without the benefit of hindsight.
Everything about the Giants' 2022 season screamed regression to the mean. They won a succession of close games and made the playoffs despite scoring just three more touchdowns than they allowed and finishing with a negative point differential over the season.
Daniel Jones showed improved play — particularly in the second half of the season — in his first year under head coach Brian Daboll, who was riding high as one of the architects of Josh Allen’s NFL rise and won Coach of the Year for his work with the Giants in 2022.
At the end of that 2022 season, the final year of Jones' rookie contract, the team had a decision to make regarding his future after having already decided to decline his fifth-year option.
The year he had made him a perfect and obvious candidate for the franchise tag — a one-year, fully guaranteed deal that would put the onus on Jones to prove he could do it again, to take another step forward and earn himself a long-term contract as the team’s starting quarterback.
Unfortunately, the Giants also had a disgruntled Saquon Barkley on an expiring contract and wanted the tag to keep Barkley in New York for another season. They also didn’t want the $32-plus million cap hit of a quarterback tag on the books for just one season of play.
So, instead, they signed Jones to a four-year, $160 million contract.
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