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Daniel Jones for the Cowboys? What the Giants failure says about NFL QBs

Vaseline November 25, 2024

What a difference a few years can make in the life of an NFL quarterback. Two years ago, New York Giants QB Daniel Jones was the toast of the Big Apple. Alongside running back Saquon Barkley, Jones and his teammates surprised the football world by reaching the postseason And winning an upset victory on the road in Minnesota against a Vikings team that won 13 games.

Jones was about to become a free agent and had hit the jackpot. He threw for a career-high 3,200 yards and was responsible for a total of 22 rushing and passing touchdowns. He threw just five interceptions. Giants fans and team management were in love with “Danny Dimes.” This offseason, the Giants rewarded Jones with a four-year contract worth $160 million.

What followed can only be described as a nightmare for both Jones and the G-Men.

Jones requested and was granted his release by the Giants on Friday after being demoted to the fourth-string QB spot on the roster.

NFL quarterbacks are paid more than almost any other position in professional team sports. And when they are successful, the prestige that comes with those big salaries is enormous. But it’s also a position where loyalties shift quickly, with seasons and tens of millions at stake. Jones is just the latest example.

Jones requested and was granted his release by the Giants on Friday after being demoted to the fourth-string QB spot on the roster. The decision to acquire Jones followed an injury-plagued 2023 season and a statistically dismal 2024 season that left the Giants at 2-8 when they played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. (Jones’ inability to lead his team past the lowly Carolina Panthers in Munich on Nov. 7 was a particularly notable low point.)

Since signing his lucrative deal, Jones had a win-loss record of just 3-13, with 10 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He missed most of last year after a neck injury and returned in 2024 to a team severely missing its main offensive weapon, Barkley, who the Giants allowed to walk in free agency to the rival Philadelphia Eagles. To make matters worse, Barkley is having perhaps his best season for an Eagles team that sits atop the NFC East division.

Despite seven games remaining, the postmortem of the 2024 Giants has already begun. Who is to blame? Is it Jones? Is it head coach Brian Daboll? General manager Joe Schoen? Honestly, the full answer might be all of the above.

The Giants clearly benefited from the hype surrounding their Cinderella-adjacent 2022 postseason. The unexpected playoff berth and a good-but-not-great season from Jones gave the impression of momentum that quickly dissipated. So starved for success after Eli Manning’s retirement, the Giants thought the combination of Jones, Barkley and Daboll’s coaching could lead to glory. Management pushed their chips to the center of the table thinking they had a winning hand, but then realized they had completely misinterpreted their cards.

A few years ago, the Denver Broncos went all-in on the Seahawks’ Super Bowl-winning signal caller Russell Wilson. Two years and two head coaches later, Wilson was released (despite still owing a lot of money to Denver) and signed by Pittsburgh, where he found success with the Steelers. But even in early 2024, there were reports that the Steelers were considering sending Wilson elsewhere in favor of former Bears quarterback Justin Fields.

The Jets, New York’s long-suffering “other football team,” traded for former Super Bowl-winning quarterback Aaron Rodgers in 2023 to end a Super Bowl drought of more than 50 years. But just past the midpoint of Year 2 of Rodgers’ contract, the Jets’ season is in shambles, with reports emerging this week that team owner Woody Johnson wants to bench his aging 40-year-old star after the team’s loss against the Denver Broncos. end of September.

And then there’s the Cleveland Browns’ historically bad deal for Deshaun Watson, worth $230 million over five years. The oft-injured Watson has a losing record and mediocre stats. He was also signed after dozens of women have sued him for sexual misconduct and harassment during his time with the Houston Texans. (Watson was suspended 11 games and fined $5 million in 2022 for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, but a Texas grand jury failed to indict him on criminal charges.)

Can Daniel Jones replicate Russell Wilson’s success and find new life in another uniform? Maybe with the right pieces around him. I hear the Cowboys need a quarterback now that the equally highly paid and underperforming Dak Prescott is sitting out the rest of the year with a hamstring injury. Barkley has had success with another NFC East team. Maybe Danny Dimes can be redeemed in Dallas. Or not. That’s the problem with NFL quarterbacks. They fly closest to the sun, but some inevitably fall back to Earth. Difficult.