If the Giants plan to give Daniel Jones the starter role as QB1 they will need to provide him with better support than what he has had to work with. The one area that Jones stands out poorly in is the touchdown percentage. His rank among league starters in TD % starting in 2019 are as follows: 11th, 31st, 28th, 28th, and 32nd.
Starting with the active career leaders in receiving touchdowns we have a list of 64 players that had a minimum of 15 career touchdowns. To account for players that simply played more games I ranked the players by touchdowns per game, per receptions and per targets. The player ranks for each of these were summed and the top 14 were selected. It happened that Pro Football Focus just published an article on the top red zone receiver prospects. From that list I added one additional tight end and two receivers to make an even 17 prospects. Here is the list of top touchdown receiving prospects.
In the attached file the prospects are color coded into groups based on larger gaps in the total sum of the rankings. Here is the lists from the file.
| Rank | Player | CL | Pos | Ht | GM | Rec | TD | Targ | Rz Snaps | Rz Targ | Rz Rec | Rz TD | |
| 1 | Marvin Harrison Jr. | Ohio St. | Jr. | WR | – | 38 | 155 | 31 | 251 | 112 | 41 | 20 | 17 |
| 2 | Brian Thomas Jr. | LSU | Jr. | WR | 6-4 | 38 | 127 | 24 | 187 | 80 | 18 | 13 | 8 |
| 3 | Adonai Mitchell | Texas | Jr. | WR | 6-4 | 35 | 93 | 18 | 163 | 95 | 20 | 13 | 10 |
| 4 | Devontez Walker | North Carolina | So. | WR | – | 28 | 104 | 19 | 177 | ||||
| 5 | Roman Wilson | Michigan | Sr. | WR | 6-0 | 46 | 107 | 20 | 154 | 61 | 21 | 16 | 9 |
| 6 | Troy Franklin | Oregon | Jr. | WR | – | 40 | 160 | 25 | 235 | 135 | 31 | 21 | 12 |
| 6 | Zakhari Franklin | Ole Miss | Sr. | WR | 6-1 | 50 | 266 | 38 | 407 | 91 | 22 | 14 | 9 |
| 8 | Brenden Rice | Southern California | Sr. | WR | 6-3 | 43 | 111 | 21 | 181 | 82 | 26 | 14 | 8 |
| 9 | Brock Bowers | Georgia | Jr. | TE | 6-4 | 40 | 175 | 26 | 241 | 115 | 31 | 18 | 7 |
| 10 | Keon Coleman | Florida St. | Jr. | WR | 6-4 | 34 | 115 | 19 | 189 | ||||
| 11 | Jermaine Burton | Alabama | Sr. | WR | 6-0 | 50 | 132 | 23 | 200 | ||||
| 12 | Malachi Corley | Western Ky. | Jr. | WR | 5-11 | 49 | 259 | 29 | 366 | 93 | 28 | 21 | 10 |
| 12 | Xavier Worthy | Texas | Jr. | WR | 6-1 | 39 | 197 | 26 | 330 | ||||
| 14 | Luke McCaffrey | Rice | Jr. | WR | 6-2 | 44 | 131 | 19 | 202 | 99 | 33 | 21 | 10 |
| 15 | Jared Wiley | TCU | Sr. | TE | 6-7 | 59 | 90 | 15 | 116 | 86 | 21 | 15 | 9 |
| 15 | Rome Odunze | Washington | Jr. | WR | 6-3 | 40 | 214 | 24 | 326 | ||||
| 17 | Malik Nabers | LSU | Jr. | WR | 6-0 | 38 | 189 | 21 | 274 | 101 | 26 | 13 | 6 |
The touchdown area was Daniele Jones’ worst statistic. Even if the Giants move on from Jones having a receiver that is skilled at scoring touchdowns is a good thing.
On the topic of Daniel Jones there was a video of John Mara interviewed and his comments on Daniel Jones. This video is relatively recent (March 25th).
With #Giants president and CEO John Mara for @nflnetwork on the hip-drop tackle (“It was a tactic we had to get out of the game”), the kickoff proposal (“If we can twist some arms tonight, maybe we’ll take another vote”) and his confidence in Daniel Jones. pic.twitter.com/hgHUXihvS9
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 25, 2024
I would be surprised if the Giants are saying this publicly and then would within a month trade up for a quarterback. I believe it is a possibility that if a quarterback that they grade high as the pick or higher falls to them they may take them. But I do not see a trade up in any round for a quarterback.
Following Mara’s comments on Daniel having a bad year in 2023 due to injury and lack of support I looked at Jones’ progression statistic wise over his career. He really has improved as a quarterback if you discount 2023. jones appears as a team player that takes well to coaching. In the start of his career he was awful with regard to turnovers especially fumbles. Jones concentrated on this deficiency and greatly improved. Here are his fumble and interception rankings per year.
| Rk | Player | Fumbles | G | Att | Season |
| 11 | Daniel Jones | 4 | 6 | 160 | 2023 |
| 17 | Daniel Jones | 6 | 16 | 472 | 2022 |
| 17 | Daniel Jones | 7 | 11 | 361 | 2021 |
| 37 | Daniel Jones | 11 | 14 | 448 | 2020 |
| 35 | Daniel Jones | 18 | 12 | 455 | 2019 |
With the interceptions Jones was tops in the league in 2022.
| Rank | Player | Int% | G | Att | Season |
| 36 | Daniel Jones | 3.8 | 6 | 160 | 2023 |
| 1 | Daniel Jones | 1.1 | 16 | 472 | 2022 |
| 11 | Daniel Jones | 1.9 | 11 | 2021 | |
| 20 | Daniel Jones | 2.2 | 14 | 2020 | |
| 25 | Daniel Jones | 2.6 | 12 | 2019 |
Jones on target and bad throws statistics were excellent over the last two seasons. He moved up from being below average. In 2022 Daniel was tops in On Target percentage as documented on Pro Football Reference.
| Rank | Player | OnTgt% | G | Season | Lg |
| 11 | Daniel Jones | 78.4 | 6 | 2023 | NFL |
| 1 | Daniel Jones | 81 | 16 | 2022 | NFL |
| 19 | Daniel Jones | 76.1 | 11 | 2021 | NFL |
| 28 | Daniel Jones | 75.2 | 14 | 2020 | NFL |
| 31 | Daniel Jones | 70.7 | 12 | 2019 | NFL |
| Rank | Player | Bad% | G | Season |
| 8 | Daniel Jones | 13.7 | 6 | 2023 |
| 4 | Daniel Jones | 12.2 | 16 | 2022 |
| 21 | Daniel Jones | 18.4 | 11 | 2021 |
| 23 | Daniel Jones | 17.6 | 14 | 2020 |
| 17 | Daniel Jones | 17.8 | 12 | 2019 |
The site Pro Football Reference documents a success percentage by downs based on yardage gained. Discounting the lasts season he has improved both success % on both pass and rush.
| Rank | Player | Succ% Pass | G | Att | Season |
| 33 | Daniel Jones | 37.4 | 6 | 160 | 2023 |
| 16 | Daniel Jones | 45.7 | 16 | 472 | 2022 |
| 29 | Daniel Jones | 43.9 | 11 | 361 | 2021 |
| 33 | Daniel Jones | 42.8 | 14 | 448 | 2020 |
| 31 | Daniel Jones | 40.8 | 12 | 455 | 2019 |
| Rank | Player | Succ% Rush | G | Att | Season |
| 13 | Daniel Jones | 52.5 | 6 | 160 | 2023 |
| 8 | Daniel Jones | 59.2 | 16 | 472 | 2022 |
| 20 | Daniel Jones | 48.4 | 11 | 361 | 2021 |
| 27 | Daniel Jones | 44.6 | 14 | 448 | 2020 |
| 1 | Daniel Jones | 65.9 | 12 | 455 | 2019 |
In the important first downs Daniel attained the top third of the league in firsts downs per attempts. This one is out of roughly 70 players. The last perc column shows the percentile he falls into.
| Rank | Player | Pass Att | Pass 1D | Rush Att | Rush 1D | 1d/att | out of | perc |
| 51 | Daniel Jones | 160 | 43 | 40 | 15 | 29.00% | 71 | 71.83% |
| 24 | Daniel Jones | 472 | 156 | 120 | 57 | 35.98% | 73 | 32.88% |
| 44 | Daniel Jones | 361 | 116 | 62 | 16 | 31.21% | 66 | 66.67% |
| 39 | Daniel Jones | 448 | 158 | 65 | 17 | 34.11% | 69 | 56.52% |
| 34 | Daniel Jones | 459 | 140 | 45 | 21 | 31.94% | 60 | 56.67% |
In ESPN’s Quarterback Rating (QBR) Daniel made 6th in the league in 2022.
| Rank | Player | Season | Rate | QBR |
| 30 | Daniel Jones | 2023 | 70.5 | 36.3 |
| 6 | Daniel Jones | 2022 | 92.5 | 62.9 |
| 22 | Daniel Jones | 2021 | 84.8 | 47.5 |
| 20 | Daniel Jones | 2020 | 80.4 | 54 |
| 18 | Daniel Jones | 2019 | 87.7 | 55.7 |
Even his passing yardage as measured by adjusted yards per attempt made up to middle of the league in 2022.
| Rank | Player | AY/A | GS | Season |
| 39 | Daniel Jones | 4.24 | 6 | 2023 |
| 18 | Daniel Jones | 6.95 | 16 | 2022 |
| 26 | Daniel Jones | 6.41 | 11 | 2021 |
| 31 | Daniel Jones | 6.06 | 14 | 2020 |
| 27 | Daniel Jones | 6.46 | 12 | 2019 |
Other statistics show the lack of support Daniel has had to deal with over the years. Here is yards after the catch. Granted this is a shared statistic between receivers and quarterbacks; However my feeling is it is more receiver related.
| Rank | Player | YAC/Cmp | G | Season |
| 37 | Daniel Jones | 4.1 | 6 | 2023 |
| 19 | Daniel Jones | 5 | 16 | 2022 |
| 27 | Daniel Jones | 4.7 | 11 | 2021 |
| 35 | Daniel Jones | 4 | 14 | 2020 |
| 25 | Daniel Jones | 5 | 12 | 2019 |
Here are thee rankings for drop percentage. Bottom quarter of the league for 2020 – 2022.
| Rk | Player | Drop% | G | Season |
| 13 | Daniel Jones | 3.9 | 6 | 2023 |
| 24 | Daniel Jones | 6.5 | 16 | 2022 |
| 27 | Daniel Jones | 5.5 | 11 | 2021 |
| 26 | Daniel Jones | 5.3 | 14 | 2020 |
| 9 | Daniel Jones | 3.8 | 12 | 2019 |
And finally the horrid pressure percentage he has had to endure. He was at pretty much the very bottom for four of his five years.
| Rk | Player | Prss% | G | Season |
| 39 | Daniel Jones | 30.5 | 6 | 2023 |
| 32 | Daniel Jones | 25.1 | 16 | 2022 |
| 18 | Daniel Jones | 23.3 | 11 | 2021 |
| 34 | Daniel Jones | 30.3 | 14 | 2020 |
| 33 | Daniel Jones | 30.4 | 12 | 2019 |
For all these reasons I do not see the Giants trading up at all for a quarterback. If one they like is available and thee value fits the round then they may take them. That would not reflect on their faith and intent concerning Daniel. The quarterback position is one that good teams always consider taking even if they have a quarterback. Teams like the Patriots and Packers were able to trade an extra quarterback if the opportunity arises.
Going back to the opening call for receivers that score touchdowns, here are Daniel Jones’ rankings in TD % for his career.
| Rk | Player | TD% | GS | Season | TD |
| 39 | Daniel Jones | 1.3 | 6 | 2023 | 2 |
| 28 | Daniel Jones | 3.2 | 16 | 2022 | 15 |
| 28 | Daniel Jones | 2.8 | 11 | 2021 | 10 |
| 31 | Daniel Jones | 2.5 | 14 | 2020 | 11 |
| 11 | Daniel Jones | 5.2 | 12 | 2019 | 24 |
If we go back to the loaded receiver draft classes of 2020 and 2021 and take the top 15 college active receiver leaders those years we get the following listed receivers. All of which had success in the NFL in receiving touchdowns.
DeVonta Smith,
Pat Freiermuth,
Jaylen Waddle,
Ja’Marr Chase (2 seasons in top ten receiving TDs),
Ceedee Lamb (2 seasons in top ten receiving TDs),
Tee Higgins and
Justin Jefferson (1 season in top ten receiving TDs).
