EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ. – The Jones Era is officially done in New York.
What could’ve been over two years ago has officially come to an end today, after benching Jones on Wednesday and receiving major backlash from the locker room and fans, the organization granted the release to the supposed heir to the team that Eli Manning carried after a request this morning
This move comes in response to the lack of production in what will be Jones sixth year in the NFL.
Jones, who was originally benched on Wednesday was seen in the role of a Safety on the scout team in yesterday’s practice, as he would be separated from Tommy DeVito, Drew Lock, and new signee Tim Boyle who all took snaps and reps with the active roster.
This move drew outrage on social media among the Giants fanbase who didn’t see any fault in Jones performance this season and even confused some reporters.
Giants President John Mara released a statement on the move to release Daniel Jones.
“Daniel came to see me this morning and asked if we would release him. We mutually agreed that would be best for him and for the team. Daniel has been a great representative of our organization, first class in every way. His handling of this situation yesterday exemplifies just that. We are all disappointed in how things have worked out. We hold Daniel in high regard and have a great appreciation for him. We wish him nothing but the best in the future.”
Jones was the sixth overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, in a time where Eli Manning would be in the final year of his NFL career, with Justin Herbert deciding to commit to a 5th year at Oregon, the Giants were left with the decision of taking either Daniel Jones or Dwayne Haskins.
While the move to take the Senior Bowl MVP who went 6-6 at his final year at Duke baffled many in the fanbase, some saw it as a potential sign of hope and a turn of the new guard for the franchise.
Jones started 12 of the 16 games his rookie season and won in his debut game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, giving the fans and the franchise something to look forward to in the future.
Although the team finished 4-12 his rookie year, Jones put up a 61.9% completion percentage and had a 24-12 TD to Interception ratio, which impressed many people that Jones was able to perform that well with an extremely lackluster offense.
Jones would come into his second season as the obvious choice of starter for the Giants during the Covid-19 restricted season during 2020.
The Giants would somewhat improve, missing out on the playoffs but finishing off the year 6-10, showed that the team was heading in the right direction.
Jones would finish that year with a 62.5% completion percentage, but would go 11-10 on the TD to Interception ratio, which was a slight step back.
The 2021 season would be a major setback for the Giants. The team would miss the playoffs with an abysmal 4-13 record, Jones would start majority of the season but the Giants would turn to Mike Glennon and even Jake Fromm for QB1 reps.
2022 would be the Giants best season to date since their 2016 playoff run and would be the first time the Giants won a playoff game since their 2011 run to the Super Bowl.
This would also be Jones best statistical year. Jones would finish the year with a 67.2% completion percentage and go 15-5 on the TD to Interception ratio.
The offseason that followed would be where everything went wrong with the Giants.
Jones and Sequin Barkley would be on the final years of their contracts, with a tough decision to make thanks to Kenny Golladay’s massive four-year contract, the Giants only had enough cap space to give one of the two players the money they thought they deserved.
The Giants ultimately picked Jones and gave him a four-year, $160 million contract.
Meanwhile, Saquon Barkley would get stuck with the franchise tag going into the 2023 season, a move which would come back to haunt the Giants.
The 2023 season would be a nightmare for Jones, suffering from a neck injury only to comeback and tear his ACL and underperform in the games that he started, left the organization to scratch their heads and the fanbase to turn on Jones.
The Giants would finish the 2023 season 6-11 thanks to the late season heroics from Tommy DeVito, with the antics from DeVito, the Giants would be positioned outside the top five in the draft, leaving them to pass on a quarterback in the draft and take standout rookie receiver Malik Nabers instead.
Jones came back for this season rebounding off the ACL injury but the season for Jones was nothing but ugly. With bad losses to teams like the Vikings, Bengals and Eagles, including close losses that should’ve been wins to the Commanders, Cowboys, and Panthers, the organization had no choice but to cut the chord.
Although this is far from likely to be the last time Jones will ever suit up in the NFL, it is likely that this could be the last season where we see Jones as a solidified NFL starter.
Many do see this move as the final scapegoat to be pushed out of the Giants organization, many believe that if there is no success following this move, the only people to blame are the front office for what many could say is just pure ignorance.
Many were asked about the Jones release, including head coach Brian Daboll who described Jones as simply
“He’s been nothing but a pro… he’s a great young man.”
Newly appointed starter Tommy DeVito said that he is currently looking forward to seeing Jones get back on the field with another team and find his groove.
With Jones being released, the Giants will take quite the cap hit over this stretch of a season and a half, with the Giants taking a $47.1 million cap hit for the rest of 2024 and a $22.2 million cap hit in 2025.
Although the team will be freeing up $19.4 million of cap space for 2025, meaning that the team could potentially be in for a big splash in free agency that offseason.
