Daniel Jones to the Cowboys? What the Giants’ failure says about NFL QBs

On By Littum

What a difference a few years can make in the life of an NFL quarterback. Two years ago, New York Giants QB Daniel Jones was the toast of the Big Apple. Along with running back Saquon Barkley, Jones and his teammates surprised the football world by reaching the postseason and picked up a boring win on the road at Minnesota against a Vikings team on a 13-game winning streak.

By becoming a free agent, Jones had hit the jackpot. He threw for a career-high 3,200 yards and accounted for a total of 22 rushing and passing touchdowns. He only threw five interceptions. Gigantic fans and team management were in love with “Danny Dimes”. That offseason, the Giants rewarded Jones with one four-year contract worth $160 million.

What followed can only be described as a nightmare for both Jones and the G-Men.

Jones requested and was granted his release by the Giants on Friday after being demoted to the fourth-string QB spot on the roster.

NFL quarterbacks get paid more than virtually any other position in professional team sports. And if they are successful, the prestige that comes with the fat paychecks is enormous. But it’s also a position where loyalties shift quickly, with seasons and tens of millions on the line. Jones is just the latest example.

Jones asked for and stayed granted his release by the Giants on Friday after being demoted to the fourth-string QB spot on the roster. The decision to move on from Jones followed an injury-plagued 2023 season and a statistically dismal 2024 campaign that has left the Giants 2-8 entering their game Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. (Jones’ inability to lead his team past the lowly Carolina Panthers in Munich on Nov. 7 was a particularly notable low point.)

Since signing his lucrative deal, Jones had a win-loss record of just 3-13, with 10 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He missed most of last year with a neck injury and returned in 2024 to a team sorely missing its top offensive weapon, Barkley, whom the Giants allowed to walk away in free agency to the rival Philadelphia Eagles. Adding insult to injury, Barkley no doubt has his best season for an Eagles team at the top of the NFC East division.

Despite still having seven games left to play, the postmortem on the 2024 Giants has already begun. Who is to blame? Is that Jones? Is it head coach Brian Daboll? General Manager Joe Schoen? Honestly, the full answer might just be all of the above.

The Giants clearly bought into the hype surrounding their Cinderella-adjacent 2022 postseason. The unexpected playoff berth and a good but not great season from Jones created an impression of momentum that quickly dissipated. So starved for success after Eli Manning’s retirement, the Giants believed the combination of Jones, Barkley and the coaching of Daboll could lead to glory. Management pushed their chips to the center of the table, thinking they had a winning hand, only to realize they had completely misunderstood their cards.

A few years ago, the Denver Broncos went all-in on the Seahawks’ Super Bowl-winning signal-caller Russell Wilson. Two years and two head coaches later, Wilson was released (despite still being owed big money by Denver) and signed by Pittsburgh, where he is enjoying success with the Steelers. But even as early as 2024, there were reports that the Steelers were considering sending Wilson elsewhere in favor of former Bears quarterback Justin Fields.

The Jets, the long-suffering “other New York football team,” traded for former Super Bowl-winning quarterback Aaron Rodgers in 2023 to help end a Super Bowl drought of more than 50 years. But just past the midpoint of Year 2 of Rodgers’ contract, the Jets’ season is in shambles, with reports surfacing this week about the team owner Woody Johnson wants to bench his aging 40-year-old star following the team’s loss to the Denver Broncos in late September.

And then there’s the Cleveland Browns’ historically bad deal with Deshaun Watson worth $230 million over five years. The oft-injured Watson has a losing record and mediocre stats. He was also signed after dozens of women sued him alleging sexual misconduct and harassment during his time with the Houston Texans. (Watson was suspended 11 games and hit with a $5 million fine in 2022 for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, but a The Texas grand jury declined to indict him on any criminal charges.)

Can Daniel Jones replicate Russell Wilson’s success and find new life in a different uniform? With the right pieces around him, maybe. I hear the Cowboys need a quarterback now that the also highly paid and underperforming Dak Prescott will be out for the rest of the year with a hamstring injury. Barkley has had success with another NFC East team. Maybe Danny Dimes can be redeemed in Dallas. Or not. That’s the problem with NFL quarterbacks. They fly closest to the sun, but some inevitably fall back to Earth. Hard.