EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – It was September 10, 2023, the first game for Daniel Jones and the New York Giants since the quarterback signed a four-year, $160 million contract seven months earlier.

Jones was pressured on 23 dropbacks and was sacked seven times in a 40–0 home loss to the Dallas Cowboys. His top pass protector, left tackle Andrew Thomas, injured a hamstring and did not return until the second half of the season.

Things went bad for Jones and the Giants after he signed that mega deal, and the deterioration happened quickly.

Jones was released Friday, 439 days after being cut by the Cowboys. He had won three of 16 starts, thrown 10 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions before he was benched in favor of Tommy DeVito this week. Jones, 27, went to the Giants on Friday to ask for his release after spending part of Thursday’s practice playing scout team safety. The Giants and Jones decided it was best for the sides to part ways with seven games left in the season.

“Obviously this season has been disappointing for everyone and I obviously wish I could have done more,” Jones said Thursday during what was essentially his farewell press conference. “I am 100 percent responsible for my part. I didn’t play well enough and consistently enough to help the team get the results.”

Things hardly got better after the loss to the Cowboys. Jones played well in the second half the following week in Arizona, but in Week 4 of last season he could be seen by a national audience getting sacked ten times and throwing a pick-six in a blowout loss on “Monday Night Football” to Seattle Seahawks at MetLife Stadium.

In 2023, he was no longer healthy. Jones hurt his neck in a late loss to the Miami Dolphins the following week. He returned four weeks later, but tore the ACL in his right knee in the first quarter against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Just like that, his season was over. So did any viable chance for success in New York.

“It was probably injuries,” DeVito said. “Last year (Jones) got really messed up during the games, he probably wasn’t always completely healthy. But he still went out there and gave it his all. Sometimes he probably wasn’t able to get the hang of it. It’s probably not fair to him, but… if you’re going to play, you’re going to play.”

Jones will ultimately be judged on results, which have not been good since a playoff win in 2022, the most successful season of his career. He finished sixth in the NFL with a QBR of 62.9 that season, but ranks 26th among qualifying quarterbacks with a QBR of 53.0 since entering the league in 2019.

The Giants flirted with drafting a quarterback last season, a major topic highlighted in HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” which chronicled the team’s preseason. The program showed that coach Brian Daboll was asked in a pre-draft meeting if he wanted to trade for Jayden Daniels.

“Daniel?” Daboll said. “I would.”

General manager Joe Schoen was also heard telling the New England Patriots to keep the Giants in mind if they trade pick No. 3. Common sense says the Giants never traded for a non-quarterback, especially after sources confirmed their strong interest in Drake Maye. The North Carolina product was ultimately selected by the Patriots.

Multiple sources close to Jones said they believe the public search for a quarterback has affected him, putting extra pressure on his shoulders early this season. Not only was he coming back from a serious knee injury, but now he was carrying the burden of immediate success.

Jones clearly hasn’t been the same this season as he will be in 2022. His accuracy — never one of Jones’ biggest concerns in the past — has been an issue from the start of training camp. This summer he consistently threw deep balls at times. Jones admitted that he was overthrown in an attempt to correct himself. This admission perhaps revealed the internal struggle he faced after knee surgery and two neck injuries.

Even with the perception that he had an improved corps of receivers, including dazzling rookie Malik Nabers, Jones’ confidence didn’t seem to be high, and multiple players told ESPN that his relationship with Daboll looked different. Someone sometimes described it as ‘weird’.

The tension seemed to bubble to the surface when an international audience watched the Giants play the Carolina Panthers in Germany two weeks ago. Daboll, who took over the playcalling this season in an attempt to fix a broken offense, called for a flea flicker on a third-and-1. Two receivers were wide open, but Jones failed to throw the football.

Daboll was seen on TV screaming as he ran along the sideline. After about twenty yards, he ran into one of the open wide receivers, Wan’Dale Robinson, and punched him on the hand. They both seemed to know that a big play was coming. Several Giants players were watching the game together on their phones as the media entered the locker room after the game at Allianz Stadium.

At that point, it seemed clear that the Giants would soon turn the page on Jones, whose QBR this season is a career-worst 46.5. They surprisingly went to DeVito, the third stringer and emergency quarterback for every game this season, over second stringer Drew Lock.

Whatever the reasons for that decision, Jones had hit rock bottom during the team’s five-game losing streak, which marked his end with the Giants. He was benched and eventually released. His contract will go down as one of the worst in Giants history. His tenure will be considered unsuccessful, with one winning season in six years.

“Playing in New York didn’t help,” said wide receiver and close friend Darius Slayton. “The pressure from the media on the coach and the players is enormous. It will only get worse in the end.”