Giants’ Daniel Jones: Pressure to shine ‘weighs on me heavy’

There were high hopes for Daniel Jones after the New York Giants selected him No. 6 overall in the 2019 NFL Draft.

Now, though, as the quarterback enters his fourth season, the pressure is on the former Duke star to live up to his potential. And nobody is feeling the heat more than Jones himself.

Daniel Jones is among QBs facing the most pressure

Bucky Brooks wrote a piece highlighting three quarterbacks in their make-it-or-break-it-year: New York Giants’ Daniel Jones, Miami Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa and Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts. Marcellus Wiley and Emmanuel Acho rate each quarterback on a 1-10 pressure scale.

“The lack of success? Um, yeah, it weighs on me a great deal,” Jones told Paul Schwartz of the New York Post. “When you put a lot of time and effort into something and you don’t see the results, I think that’s tough when you’re doing anything. Playing football in the NFL, playing football in New York, I think there’s a heavy weight to that. I and the whole team feel that and we’re working as hard as we can to avoid being in this situation in the future. Yeah, it weighs on me heavy.”

Through three NFL seasons, Jones’ performance has been spotty. He’s completed 62.8% of his passes for 8,398 yards, 45 touchdowns and 29 interceptions, compiling a passer rating of just 84.3. He’s also fumbled 36 times, and the Giants are only 12-25 in his starts.

His best season was his rookie year, in which he had career-bests in passing yards (3,027), touchdown passes (24) and passer rating (87.7).

As a result, Jones was one of just three top-10 picks from the 2019 draft to not earn a fifth-year option.

“I think I have plenty of motivation,” Jones said. “I feel I work hard, I’ve worked hard before, and I’ve always worked hard for myself and worked hard for my teammates. I don’t think that changes, really. It is what it is, and I’ll keep doing what I’ve been doing and improve and refine my process.”

There are reasons for optimism, however, according to Eli Manning. The former Giants quarterback recently said that he believes Jones could benefit from stability under new coach Brian Daboll.

“I’m excited for Daniel,” Manning told the NFL Network. “I know he’s worked extremely hard and you know, been through a lot of offenses, a lot of coaching changes, so hopefully this can be the right one.”

Jones is already on his third head coach and fourth offensive coordinator since 2019. 

He’ll get a chance to prove he belongs as the Giants’ franchise QB beginning Sept. 11 on FOX, when New York opens the 2022 season in Tennessee against the Titans.