Giants Rumors: Daniel Jones' Injury History, Not Play, Has NY Considering 'Moving On'

Even though Daniel Jones' play last season was often dreadful, it's not the primary reason the New York Giants might consider moving on from the quarterback.

ESPN's Jordan Raanan reported that Jones' "injury history is what has the team contemplating moving on."

New York did add insurance at the position in free agency. Drew Lock got a one-year deal worth $5 million.

Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider added more intrigue to the move when he told Seattle Sports Radio 710 AM (h/t NFL.com's Kevin Patra) they tried to bring back Lock, but the Giants "sold him on the opportunity to compete to be the starter" in 2024.

Lock disputed Schneider's account, telling reporters during his introductory Zoom call it was "conveyed" to him that Jones was their starting quarterback.

Giants head coach Brian Daboll told NFL Network's Tom Pelissero on Saturday that Jones will "be the guy" when he's medically cleared.

"We're excited to have Drew, and he knows what his role is going to be," Daboll said. "He's going to get a lot of reps this spring, he needs to learn our system, but again excited to get Daniel back, when he gets back he'll be the guy."

The 26-year-old Jones suffered a torn ACL in a loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 5. That was his first game back after sitting out three straight weeks due to a neck injury.

This is yet another reason the Giants' decision to give Jones a four-year, $160 million contract last offseason made little sense at the time and looks even worse now.

Even if you go with the argument that Jones was coming off his best season in 2022 and they weren't expecting him to suffer a major knee injury, durability wasn't his greatest asset early in his career.

Jones missed two games during the 2020 season due to hamstring and ankle injuries. He suffered a neck injury that kept him out for the final five games of the 2021 campaign.

The 2022 season was the only time Jones has played in at least 16 games. They could have simply used the franchise tag on him last year to see if he could replicate his success from 2022, but they decided to bet big on him.

New York's play went bust, as Jones threw for 909 yards with two touchdowns and six interceptions before his 2023 came to an end.

Moving on from Jones would cost the Giants a $47.1 million dead-cap charge if he's designated as a post-June 1 cut, per Over the Cap.

One good thing that can be said about Jones' contract is all of the guaranteed money is paid out in the first two years, so the team would save $30.5 million against the cap in 2025 if he's released after June 1.

Raanan noted Giants officials met with the consensus top six quarterbacks at the NFL scouting combine. They are expected to bring in most of the top signal-callers for private workouts leading up to the draft.

SNY's Connor Hughes reported on March 15 that Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy is considered "the player the Giants want" by some people within the league.

The Giants are in a good position to land a quarterback early in the first round if they want to go that route. They own the No. 6 overall pick and could look to trade up, especially if they are concerned a team selecting behind them will also be aggressive in trying to make a move.