For the past several years, the New York Giants, winners of two Super Bowls not too long ago, have been wandering through the desert.
They have lacked anyone close to a solid quarterback ever since the retirement of Eli Manning, and they currently have Daniel Jones starting under center.
There were several quality QBs on the market this offseason, but the Giants failed to acquire any of them, and it isn’t clear how much of a run they made at each of them.
Why are the Giants sticking with Jones?
Jones Has Been A Big Disappointment
Originally taken with the sixth pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, Jones has fallen well short of the level one expects a high draft pick like him to play at.
His best season so far was his rookie year, and he wasn’t even impressive at all that season, putting up 3,027 yards and 24 touchdowns.
In both of the last two seasons, New York has ranked next-to-last in points scored and yards gained.
Yes, the Giants lack any quality wide receivers, but their very poor offensive numbers are widely viewed as an indictment of Jones.
The Giants have a little bit of a tradition of high-level signal-callers. In addition to Manning, Phil Simms and Fran Tarkenton and Y.A. Tittle have all suited up for them throughout their history.
The simple truth is that the NFL is a star quarterback-driven league, especially these days, and a team needs an elite or near-elite QB if it is going to go anywhere of note.
Jones simply doesn’t have the ability inside of him.
This Was The Right Offseason To Upgrade At QB
In the last few weeks, Russell Wilson, Matt Ryan, Deshaun Watson, Carson Wentz and Mitchell Trubisky have all switched teams, and any of them would’ve been a significant or major upgrade over Jones.
The Giants were rumored to be in the mix for Trubisky, but he went to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
There were rumors that Wilson was interested in playing for New York, but he was instead traded to the Denver Broncos.
Russ wants New York. But you ain’t heard that from T.. https://t.co/AWGBUAjaWj
— Tyrann Mathieu (@Mathieu_Era) April 14, 2019
Watson reportedly had the Giants on his list of preferred destinations, but co-owner John Mara publicly said that he and the organization had no interest in him.
“We’re not trading for Deshaun Watson”
Giants owner John Mara pic.twitter.com/5U7FeeESAR
— Talkin’ Giants (@TalkinGiants) January 26, 2022
As of now, Jimmy Garoppolo and Baker Mayfield, both of whom are also better than Jones, are still there for the taking.
One would think that New York would have at least some interest in at least one of them, even if acquiring one of them would be merely a stopgap solution.
One Reason Why The Giants May Not Have Made A Move At QB
New York will have both the fifth and seventh overall picks in next month’s NFL draft, and it could either use one of them to draft a QB or package at least one of those picks to acquire one later on.
In addition, there is the 2023 draft, which is expected to have multiple QB prospects who are attractive.
Another option for the Giants may be to suck it up this coming season, which would result in a high draft pick next year that they could use on a QB.
It is also rumored that they may trade at least one pick in this year’s draft to get a high pick in the 2023 draft in order to make a strong run at a replacement for Jones.
