Caution: Don't Sleep On Danny Dimes

Author: Harry Alsfine

Let me start this blog by fully admitting to and owning a mistake: I was dead wrong about Daniel Jones. When the Giants selected the 6’’5 220 LB QB 6th overall out of Duke I believed it would be a massive mistake. Jones completed under 60% of his passes in college and did not have nearly the success, or media admiration, of other top quarterbacks in his draft class such as Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins, or even Mizzou’s Drew Lock. To make matters even worse for Giant’s fans, the G-men also held the 17thoverall selection, where nearly every “draft expert” believed they would still have been able to snag Jones.

Yet, right from the get-go it was clear that Jones had plans to prove his doubters wrong. There were signs of positivity throughout the summer, but no one cares about what you can do in shorts and a t-shirt in the middle of July---especially in New York, and even more so when replacing Eli Manning, the greatest Giants QB to ever do it, both on and off the field.

But Danny Dimes outright delivered early, and often. In 13 games, for a poorly coached and rebuilding team that dealt with injuries, especially on the offensive side of the ball, DJ completed nearly 62% of his passes for over 3000 yards and had a 2:1 TD-Interception ratio. Big boy rookie numbers. Take out a Thursday night short-week start at New England, without Saquan Barkley, Evan Engram, or Sterling Shepard, and against the greatest coach of all time, who historically thrives against rookie QBs, and the numbers get even better.

So, why is it that Daniel Jones simply does not get the respect of the other good, young QB’s around the league? To me, the answer has to come down to a bias against Jones that started on draft day when he was selected 6thoverall. DJ was even called out by his fellow NFL QBs (or at least one) with Baker Mayfield saying that he “could not believe” the Giants would spend the No. 6 pick on Jones, who had a 17-19 record at Duke.

Although the wins are not there yet, and no one is ready to declare Jones a perennial Pro Bowler, Giants fans have every reason in the world to be encouraged. Take out the New England game and Jones has better numbers in a larger sample size than Drew Lock, many expert’s pick to be the next great year-2 QB. If Joe Burrow has Jone’s stats he’ll run away with ROTY.

The future most certainly looks bright for the Big Blue with Jones under center.