New York Giants: Is Daniel Jones finally having a breakout year?

Daniel Jones has shown flashes over his first few NFL seasons with the New York Giants but he might be putting it all together in the 2021 campaign.

For 15 years, Eli Manning was the stalwart quarterback for the New York Giants. He was a high-quality player, obviously, as he led the G-Men to two Super Bowls during his tenure. After the 2019 season, however, Manning hung up his cleats. New York drafting Daniel Jones in the first round of that year’s draft obviously played a part in that.

Jones earned the starting job over Manning in his rookie season and, from that moment and the two seasons we’ve seen of him, Jones showed why there were questions about him coming into the draft. He struggled with poise in the pocket and had big issues with turnovers (fumbles in particular).

Having said that, Jones definitely improved in his sophomore season for the Giants. His pocket presence and turnover struggles remained apparent, he did improve as a passer. Yet, the problems were glaring enough that there were question marks about the quarterback’s future with Big Blue beyond his rookie contract.

Daniel Jones needed to make a leap for the New York Giants and he might be doing so right now.

New York needed to see Daniel Jones move forward and become a surer quarterback for them if they were going to continue to invest in him moving forward. Though it’s only been four games, it seems as if the Giants quarterback may be doing just that.

Admittedly, Jones was not good in the team’s season-opener against Denver. Since then, however, he’s looked outstanding against Washington, New Orleans and Atlanta. So far in the 2021 season, he ranks in the top 10 in the NFL in Air Yards, Air Yards Per Attempt and yard per attempt, per Player Profiler.

When you also factor in his ability as a rusher — he’s one of the most underrated dual-threat quarterbacks in the NFL — Jones is becoming a much more dangerous player than he’s been before, especially while he’s limiting his turnovers.

Again, it’s a small sample size but the stats Jones has put up combined with the fact that he currently has the second-highest passing grade to this point, per PFF (subscription required), it seems that the Giants quarterback might finally be breaking out like many fans have been hoping for.