The last time Daniel Jones approached a game week like this, he was a walk-on. It’s been that long since he wasn’t the starter, all the way back to his redshirt freshman year at Duke in 2015.
As the Giants prepare to open the regular season Sunday afternoon against the Cowboys, Jones’ job is helping Eli Manning get ready to take on Dallas, and mimicking quarterback Dak Prescott as the scout-team quarterback. The only way he gets any action is if the game gets out of hand or Manning gets hurt.
“It’s a change. It’s a little different,” the rookie signal-caller said Monday. “But I’m trying to figure out where I can be the most helpful for Eli, for the offense. … Whatever I can do to help — help Eli prepare, help the offense, help the defense prepare with the scout team — is my role. I certainly understand that.”
Now that the real games are beginning, Jones is sliding out of the spotlight after his impressive summer, ceding the way in what will likely be Manning’s final year under center for the Giants. This was the plan all along, the Big Blue decision-makers have repeated since selecting Jones sixth overall in the draft. They want him to watch and learn under Manning, and Jones’ robust preseason — he completed 29 of 34 passes for 416 yards, two touchdowns, zero interceptions and an NFL-leading 137.3 quarterback rating, 12.2 yards per attempt and 85.3 percent completion rate — didn’t change that.
Jones served as the backup throughout the first three games of the preseason, and that seems likely where he’ll be on Sunday, even with the Giants keeping veteran Alex Tanney on the roster. If Manning gets hurt, coach Pat Shurmur wouldn’t say who would go in, but Jones will be ready.
“That’s my role, to be engaged, to know what we’re doing and be prepared,” he said. “I certainly will be. I take that very seriously.”
Jones has said all the right things about serving as a backup, saying he merely wants to help the Giants win games. The challenge for him is figuring out the best way to do that, in a role he’s not accustomed to finding himself in.
“It changes the preparation, it’s the first time I’ve done it in the NFL, so a lot of things will be different,” Jones said. “I’m going to try to help where I can and I look forward to it.
“Scout team is another opportunity to play the game, to improve, and certainly [there are] things to work on with that. I’ll take that very seriously and I look forward to hopefully giving the defense a good look and working on some things on the scout team.”
When the Giants took Jones, most experts labeled the selection a reach. Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield ripped the pick in a GQ article, saying, “I cannot believe the Giants took Daniel Jones.” But Jones silenced many of those doubters — and Mayfield backed away from the comments — with his play this summer, with his accuracy, arm strength and poise. He felt more comfortable the more reps he received and believes there’s still so much room for improvement as well.
“There’s still a lot of progress to be made,” Jones said, “so a lot to learn.”
That, of course, is what this season is about for him in the first place.
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