How it all fell apart for Daniel Jones and the Giants

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It was Sept. 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 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 didn’t return until the second half of the season.

Things went poorly for Jones and the Giants after he signed that megadeal, and the deterioration happened quickly.

Jones was released Friday, 439 days after the dismantling by the Cowboys. He’d won three of 16 starts, throwing 10 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions before being benched this week in favor of Tommy DeVito. Jones, 27, went to Giants ownership Friday to ask for his release one day after spending part of Thursday’s practice playing scout-team safety. The Giants and Jones decided it was best for the parties to split with seven games remaining in the season.

“Of course, this season has been disappointing for all and, of course, I wish I could have done more,” Jones said Thursday during what was essentially his goodbye news conference. “I’m 100 percent accountable for my part. I did not play well enough, consistently enough, to help the team get the results.”

It barely got better after that loss to the Cowboys. Jones played well in the second half the following week in Arizona, but by Week 4 of last season, he could be seen by a national audience getting sacked 10 times and throwing a pick-six in a blowout loss on “Monday Night Football” to the Seattle Seahawks at MetLife Stadium.

He was not healthy again in 2023. Jones hurt his neck while getting pummeled late in a loss to the Miami Dolphins the following week. He returned four weeks later only to tear the ACL in his right knee in the first quarter against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Just like that, his season was over. So was any viable chance of at succeeding in New York.

“Probably part of it was injuries,” DeVito said. “Last year, [Jones] got dinged up a bunch during the games, probably wasn’t fully healthy at all times. But was still going out there and giving it his all. Some of the times probably wasn’t able to get the best version of himself out there. Probably isn’t fair to him but … when you go out there to play, you go out there to play.”

Jones will ultimately be judged on the results, which weren’t good since a playoff win in 2022, the most successful season of his career. He finished that season sixth in the NFL with a QBR of 62.9, 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 this past offseason, a key topic highlighted on HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” which chronicled the team’s preseason. The program showed coach Brian Daboll in a predraft meeting being asked if he would trade up for Jayden Daniels.

“Daniels?” Daboll said. “I would.”

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

Multiple sources close to Jones said they believe the public search for a quarterback affected him, placing extra pressure on his shoulders early this season. Not only was he coming back from a serious knee injury, but now he carried the burden to be successful immediately.

Jones clearly wasn’t the same this season as he was in 2022. His accuracy — never among the biggest concerns with Jones in the past — was a problem from the start of training camp. At times this summer, he was consistently underthrowing deep balls. Jones admitted overthrowing in an effort to self-correct. This acknowledgement perhaps revealed the internal battle he was facing after knee surgery and two neck injuries.

Even with the perception that he had an improved receiver corps, including dazzling rookie Malik Nabers, Jones’ confidence didn’t appear high, and multiple players told ESPN that his relationship with Daboll appeared different. One described it as “weird” at times.

The tension appeared to boil to the surface in front of an international audience watching the Giants playing the Carolina Panthers in Germany two weeks ago. Daboll, who took over playcalling this season to try 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 shown on TV yelling while running up the sideline. After about 20 yards he ran into one of the open wide receivers, Wan’Dale Robinson, and slapped his hand. They both seemed to know that a big play was there to be had. Several Giants players were watching the play together on their phones when the media entered the locker room after the game at Allianz Stadium.

At that point, it seemed evident that the Giants would soon turn the page on Jones, whose QBR this season is a career-worst of 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 bottomed out during the team’s five-game losing streak, signaling 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,” wide receiver and close friend Darius Slayton said. “The media pressure is so immense on the coach and the players. It’s eventually going to deteriorate.”