“I have faith in Daniel as our starting quarterback,” those were the words of Giants GM Joe Schoen at a news conference at the NFL combine speaking of Daniel Jones. Questions abound about Daniel Jones and his future. Will Jones be ready to start week 1? Will the Giants draft a quarterback and if so how high in the draft? Was the 2023 season for Jones an aberration for Jones or has his quarterback skill regressed?
Whatever your thoughts son jones I believe most would have to agree that Jones has endured one of the worst environments to perform in. Three changes to head coaches (Pat Shurmur, Joe Judge, Brian Daboll) and offensive coordinators (Mike Shula, Jason Garrett, Mike Kafka), terrible offensive line protection and below average receivers. The following table show the Giants’ Pass Block Win Rate and ranking as defined by Espn. The next one shows the top four Giant receivers by season when Jones was quarterback and their ranking in the league by number of firsts downs receiving.
Giants Pass Block Win Rate Since 2019
| YEAR | PBWR | Rank |
| 2023 | 46.5% | (28th) |
| 2022 | 52.6% | (29th) |
| 2021 | 53.6% | (28th) |
| 2020 | 46.3% | (32nd) |
| 2019 | 60.7% | (12th) |
Giants Top four receivers League Rank in Receiving 1st Downs
|
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
|||||
|
Darius Slayton |
58th |
Darius Slayton |
40th |
Kenny Golladay |
81st |
Darius Slayton |
61st |
Wan’Dale Robinson |
63rd |
|
Golden Tate |
69th |
Sterling Shepard |
44th |
Kadarius Toney |
108th |
Richie James |
64th |
Darius Slayton |
65th |
|
Sterling Shepard |
70th |
Golden Tate |
121st |
Sterling Shepard |
118th |
Wan’Dale Robinson |
155th |
Isaiah Hodgins |
162nd |
|
Cody Latimer |
117th |
C.J. Board |
263rd |
Darius Slayton |
160th |
David Sills |
241st |
Jalin Hyatt |
174th |
Four of the five seasons of Daniel Jones’ career has him among the top five quarterbacks in highest pressure percentage based on at least six games starting. No other quarterback over that time-frame had that many season. The next closest was Zach Wilson with 3 seasons and followed by Justin Fields and Russell Wilson with two seasons. It is a tribute to his character that he has maintained a heads-down team-oriented attitude.
If we look at the Miami Dolphins, in his 2020 rookie season, TuaTagovailoa was sacked 20 times in 10 games and afforded on average just 2.3 seconds in the pocket. The Dolphins offense ranked 26th in yards after catch per reception that rookie season, while getting little separation from their three leading receiver threats. There was talk that the Dolphins should trade Tua. Prior to the 2022 NFL season, the general consensus across the NFL was that Miami Dolphins Tua Tagovailoa was at risk of being labeled a first-round bust. Tua Tagovailoa has been called an injury-prone football player and had a career-threatening injury involving his hip in college.
The year Tua Tagovailoa was drafted they also select RT Austin Jackson and OG Robert Hunt. The Dolphins brought in Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle in Tua’s second year. That was followed in his third year with LT Terron Armstead and as center Connor Williams. The Dolphin’s PFF offensive line rankings were as follows: 2019 – 32nd, 2020 – 28th, 2021 – 32nd, 2022 – 29th (pass blocking), 2023 – 16th (on lineups.com). Like the Giants, the Dolphins have attempted to fix the offensive line for multiple years with little success. The data in on 2023 suggests that they have significantly improved on the line last season.
I look at Tua Tagovailoa on the Dolphins and see someone that put up similar league standings as Jones in Tua’s firsts two seasons. After adding the offensive weapons of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle you can see Tua’s performance skyrocket. To the point where he was the league leader in many categories in 2022. Here is a comparison of Daniel Jones‘ first four seasons and Tua’s first two seasons. After that is Tua’s last two seasons. The numbers are in percentage with 100% being at the league average and above is better.
The yellow coded rows highlight a similarity in statistics. Following the addition of offensive weapons the green average row shows how Tua’s performance took off.
Here is the data presented earlier on receiver rankings for firsts downs but with the Dolphins with Tua included. Also included is the 2023 rankings for the Bengals who are considered to have one of the best receiver corps. The sum of each season rankings is also shown (lesser is better). The addition of Hill and Waddle really stand out as an improvement.
Tua Tagovailoa had similar problems as Daniel Jones related to mediocre performance, poor offensive line protection, injuries and lack of star receivers. It is reasonable to attribute the spectacular improvement for Tua in his last two seasons to the addition of receiver stars. Could a similar improvement occur for Jones?
By drafting a receiver like Rome Odunze you give that opportunity to Jones and you are building up your team even if Jones does not work out. Then in the second round get an offensive line player. The draft is loaded at wide receiver and offensive line. Take advantage of that. Then if still interested in quarterbacks, in round 3 or later Spencer Rattler or Jordan Travis are quarterbacks that show promise. Then let Daniel Jones, Drew Lock and the late round QB compete for the starting job.
