Account
Giants HC: Daniel Jones' Injury Last Year Was 'Much More Serious' Than People Thought
May 3, 2021
New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones was apparently more hurt than he let on during the 2020 season.
Giants head coach Joe Judge appeared on The Michael Kay Show on Monday and suggested the November hamstring injury that cost Jones one game and the December ankle injury that cost him another would have been more limiting for other players (h/t Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk):
"Look, Daniel is the last guy that's going to use anything as an excuse. What I would say about the injury last year is it was much more serious than maybe people thought on the outside. I would say probably 90 percent of players in the league who would have had that injury, including quarterbacks, would have been on IR for the remainder of the year. That's just the reality of it. It was much more severe than maybe he allowed people to know or the information that was put out there, and we're going to protect our players by not disclosing everything about their injuries to be honest with you. He fought through a lot of things. He earned a lot of people's respect."
Williams noted Jones was on the injury report the final five weeks of the 2020 campaign.
He played 14 games in all and completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 2,943 yards, 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. It was a step back from his rookie campaign in 2019 when he completed 61.9 percent of his passes for 3,027 yards, 24 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
New York selected the Duke product with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft, but he has struggled to find consistency on the way to an 8-18 record as a starter.
The franchise hasn't made the playoffs since the 2016 campaign and hasn't won a postseason game since winning the Super Bowl during the 2011 season. It will largely be up to Jones to help turn things around, and toughness apparently isn't a problem given Judge's quotes.
He will also have another weapon to work with after the Giants used their first-round pick in the 2021 NFL draft to select Florida wide receiver Kadarius Toney.
