As Daniel Jones stepped up to the podium Thursday, he had options.
The New York Giants’ 2019 first-round pick had officially been benched, demoted in one week from first-string quarterback to fourth. The $23 million injury guarantee from his 2025 salary hung heavy in the air. So, too, did the Giants’ 2-8 record.
“I wrote something down just to make sure I say it the right way,” Jones began his opening remarks for a press appearance he could have easily avoided.
But what would he say?
He could have finally, after months (or years) taking the high road, questioned the Giants’ decision to publicly air their skepticism about him on an offseason edition of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” docuseries.
He could have blamed the Giants for sending him to work this season in an environment where everyone was acutely aware management did not believe Jones was up for the task, and he could have blamed them for the role franchise dysfunction contributed to his disappointing tenure.
Jones could have pointed to the Giants’ struggles to build an offensive line that would minimize the injuries he ultimately sustained. And he could have questioned team ownership and front office decisions that paired him with three different head coaches in his first four seasons.
Instead, Jones publicly thanked the Giants — a day before they would announce his release.
“The opportunity to play for the New York Giants was truly a dream come true and I’m extremely grateful to the Mara and Tisch families for the chance to play here,” he said. “The Giants are truly a first-class organization, and I have nothing but genuine respect and appreciation for the people who have built it and who helped carry on that tradition.”
Jones continued his roughly 300-word statement by emphasizing the accountability he takes for his role in a 24-44-1 career record that includes just one postseason appearance in six years. He told reporters how he would support Tommy DeVito in his preparation to start and how he would do what’s best for the team, and then himself.
League sentiment was fairly unanimous: This move was classier than Jones needed to be, and more explicitly classy than most expect a benched starter to react.
All of which leads to executives’ belief on what awaits Jones in 2025.
Jones’ skill set and demeanor position him well to be a bridge quarterback for a team looking to draft and develop a young quarterback this spring, executives from four teams told Yahoo Sports. Several franchises will need a bridge quarterback — and Jones’ classy final days with the Giants presented the latest evidence he can handle that well.
“I love the game, I love being part of a team, I’m excited for the next opportunity,” Jones said. “I know that there’s a lot of good football in front of me and I’m excited about that.”
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None of the four executives who texted Yahoo Sports believed a team would want to rely on Jones as their guaranteed QB1.
In six seasons, Jones completed 64.1% of passes for 14,582 yards, 70 touchdowns and 40 interceptions. His 84.3 career passer rating ranks 38th among qualified passers in that stretch.
In returning from a torn ACL this year, Jones has completed 63.3% of his passes for 2,070 yards, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions while taking 29 sacks. He’s rushed for 265 yards and two touchdowns, averaging a career-low 4.0 yards per carry.
But that doesn’t mean there are 32 quarterbacks teams will certainly trust more.
“No one will sign him to definitively be the starter,” an NFC executive texted. “He’ll either sign to be the backup or a bridge player to a team with a young QB.”
The latter market has shown opportunity this year. The Minnesota Vikings’ Sam Darnold, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Baker Mayfield and the Seattle Seahawks’ Geno Smith represent some of the best-case scenarios for Jones’ turnaround at his next stop.
Where might Jones land?
Multiple executives wondered whether the New York Jets, Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns or Vikings would explore signing Jones ahead of the 2025 season. The Vikings particularly interested executives if Darnold signs a multiyear deal elsewhere and Minnesota wants a bridge quarterback as 2024 first-round selection J.J. McCarthy returns from surgical repairs to a torn meniscus suffered in training camp.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell has already shown the ability to revitalize a quarterback, Darnold playing far steadier in Minnesota than he ever did in starting roles with the Jets or Carolina Panthers. If the Vikings are interested in signing Jones after he clears waivers, as expected, the team would still be on the hook for his $23 million injury guarantee. Signing the quarterback who eliminated them from the playoffs two seasons ago would upgrade the Vikings’ backup option for a postseason campaign this year in addition to getting a head start on assessing whether he’d be a fit for 2025.
At least one executive pointed each to the Panthers and Indianapolis Colts as teams who could be looking for a bridge quarterback, especially if Bryce Young and Anthony Richardson, respectively, struggle through the final two months of the NFL season.
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Each executive expected Jones to have an opportunity, and wiggle room for real playing time, given how NFL quarterback demand routinely outweighs supply.
And while franchises are increasingly rushing rookie quarterbacks into starting roles, the 2025 class doesn’t have talent expected to be as ready as current rookies in Jayden Daniels, Bo Nix and Drake Maye.
“It’s not a great draft/free agent class at the position, and I think there will be some teams in need of either a bridge and/or competition-to-start scenario,” one AFC executive texted. “He could fall into that category along with guys like Justin Fields.”
What’s the case for Jones optimism?
The floor for Jones’ remaining career is fairly simple: It’s always possible he doesn’t play well, if at all, again.
The ceiling offers more intrigue and thus is more worth exploring.
Jones’ best season was in 2022, the first year that head coach Brian Daboll arrived. He posted a 92.5 passer rating thanks to his league-best 1.1% interception rate, and rushed for a career-best 708 yards and seven touchdowns. The Giants extended him the following offseason, placing a franchise tag on running back Saquon Barkley, who signed with the Eagles a year later. Neither Jones nor the Giants offense was able to recapture its 2022 fluidity the last two seasons.
To imagine how upgrading talent from the Giants can impact a player, look no further than Barkley’s stellar rebound season in Philadelphia this year.
Many around the league also believe a player’s mobility doesn’t fully return in the first year post-ACL surgery. Could his second year be more opportune?
If he’s signed to a team that drafts a rookie quarterback, he would be temperamentally equipped to handle the uncertainty of when a rookie quarterback might start, should he land in a role akin to what the New England Patriots asked of Jacoby Brissett this year.
He was helping DeVito as recently as Thursday, before his Friday release. He aided with game preparation and scout team work, even spotting at scout-team safety on Thursday. Defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence said Wednesday that Jones was still walking about the building “with a smile on his face.”
And on Thursday, while Jones stopped short of taking accountability for everything that influenced the Giants, he made sure to own his part.
“I did not play well enough, consistently enough to help the team get the results,” Jones said. “I’m 100% accountable for my part.”
After a Friday morning meeting, the Giants seemed to indicate their responsibility more fully than they had before. They released Jones with well wishes — a move that, it’s worth noting, neither the Las Vegas Raiders nor the Denver Broncos did in recent years when they benched Derek Carr and Russell Wilson, respectively, due to similar injury guarantee structures.
“Daniel has been a great representative of our organization, first class in every way,” Giants president John Mara said in a Friday statement. “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.”
It remains to be seen what exactly that future will hold.