The 2023/24 NFL season has finally come to a close, and once again the Kansas City Chiefs reign victorious and my New York Giants are among the laughing stock of the league. Now, I think any Giants fan will tell you that this season was horrible, after making the playoffs last season and bringing in some weapons, many fans, myself included felt that this year wouldn’t be as smooth sailing as last season, but that it would be a good season, having the Giants competitive again for the first time really since Super Bowl XLVI. This season couldn’t have started off worse.
Let’s go back to March 10th, 2023, the day that I was checking my phone every 5 minutes in the office, eagerly anticipating the Giants letting Daniel Jones walk. However to my delight and literal jumping out of my seat, he was re-signed! “four-years, $160 million”, oh man this doesn’t look good when you look back at it. But I will be the first to say it, during the 2019 NFL draft, I was ecstatic when the Giants took Daniel Jones at #6, he was my draft crush that year and after years of falling in love with quarterbacks during the latter stages of Eli’s carrer and them not being Giants, I finally got one! This was it, he was the man, immediately notified my parents of my wish for a Danny Dimes jersey for Christmas, and was hit with “Is his name actually Dimes?” During his first four seasons I was the biggest Jones believer and apologist, claiming to sour fans on Twitter and in person how, “Nobody would succeed with what has been put around him and the merry-go-round of head coaches and schemes he’s had to endure in four years.”
My exchanges through the Years on Jones: https://twitter.com/DanielJonesDefense
But you know what even after giving him that deal, I was confident… and the Giants have an out in 2025 if it doesn’t work out. Sure he’s no Mahomes, Allen, Herbert, or Burrow, but he does what he’s asked to do and with better protection and weapons, I think he can take that next step. He has all the intangibles all that is missing is consistency in the coaching department and people around him to help him out. We trade for Darren ‘Freakin’ Waller, no relation to Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins. And then we get to the NFL draft and the one name I’m thinking the whole time is Zay Flowers [note upon time of writing: looks like we dodged a bullet] but he went and another name I looked to was Jalin Hyatt, but not in the first round right? I talked myself into being okay with it due to the sheer game changing ability he has. Fortunately, he fell to the third round where we snatched him up and I’m hoping 2024 has more in store for Hyatt, back to Jones.
The offseason was pretty lackluster in my opinion from there, a clip circled around the twitter-spaces of Daniel Jones in practice struggling to hit Waller on a hitch route, but that was surely nothing, right?
Week 1: Alright, I spent all year waiting for this, this is our year! First drive was alright, at least we’ll get some points with this field goal… what!! That was about as good as it got that night, with the whole country watching the *ew* Cowboys beat up on a high school football team disguised as the New York Giants. Andrew Thomas got injured early, Evan Neal looked more Ereck Flowers esque than before and Daboll wouldn’t take out his ‘Franchise QB’ down 40-0 after getting sacked 7 times. What a mess, at least we have an easy win versus the cardinals next week.
Week 2: Alright, that was a fluke, Thomas is out but it’s the Cardinals, how hard can that be. 20-0 Cardinals at halftime, what is going on! We’re never going to score a point this year. I believe this to be Daniel Jones’ best game of the 2023/24 season, and it wasn’t a great game by him. He had solid stats by looking at the box score, but his chemistry with the receiving core was amiss as several throws were too low, or just plain misses.
Week 3: Uh oh the 49ers, let’s at least make it competitive and Jones should have an okay game, nothing special but you can’t be that bad. Oh it was that bad. No Saquon, No Party. Offensive line still looks real bad, but that’s the 49ers, I have money on them winning the Super Bowl {SO CLOSE} I’m starting to think this Jones contract was a mistake.
Week 4: I refuse to say anything about this game. So bad!
Week 5: Honestly, it wasn’t as bad as it looked in the moment, but this offensive line got Jones hurt once again, and when they revealed it was a similar pain to his neck injury in 2021, I was getting ready to call it a career on Daniel Jones.
Week 9: That was a rough 3 weeks, the coaches put in some Italian kid against the Jets who they didn’t let throw the ball, but you know what, the Raiders just fired their coach, they stink. This is where the playoff dreams come back. Jones is back, the offense under Daboll ‘calling the plays?’ and Tyrod looked better, let’s see what Jones can do… OH NO THAT’S HIS ACL!!
And that is where Daniel Jones’ 2023/24 NFL season came to an end, Allegiant Stadium. If you told me that, I would’ve said, Super Bowl??? LET’S GOOOOOO!! But no, it was a 30-6 beating by the Oakland Las Vegas Raiders in week 9.
And his stats:
909 Yards. 2 Touchdowns. 6 Interceptions. *sigh*
Before Tommy DeVito mania began, at this point with the season in the mud and not a great showing from Jones, I was ready to throw in the towel and even found myself commenting on Reddit threads:
“I think best for him and the franchise is new scenery. Give the kid a fresh chance somewhere else in 2025. It’s upsetting but he was kinda let down by the team. Anyway I think if the giants get on the clock and one of Maye or Williams is there you send the card in and take one of them. And if they’re off the table/ Giants can’t move up for one them I think you don’t reach and take best player available whether that’s Fashanu and maybe move Neal to guard? Or take Harrison Jr and hope one of these other qb projects falls. No idea but I think it’ll be interesting to see what Schoen does this offseason” – Me, November 2023
But today, just a few days after Super Bowl LVIII, I am here to say that those thoughts were very shortsighted and due to the Giants new draft position putting those top QB’s firmly out of reach in all likelihood, I am ALL IN on Daniel Jones heading into the 2024 season and beyond. Now, I will be the first to admit that I had been tempted to move on, but those thoughts were in vain as the season had worn on my soul quite a bit.
Your honor, at this time I would like to submit into evidence Exhibit A, New York Giants legend Phil Simms. Now now, hear me out, I have no idea about the career of Simms, he retired around 5 years before I was even a thought. But thankfully in 2024, we have the power of the internet and https://www.pro-football-reference.com/. I’ve watched Simms highlights, those Giants teams of the 80’s and have seen the highs. But from an outside perspective, who is to say Jones can’t have a second half career resurgence a la Phil Simms. Simms’ first five years were lackluster and even had his own injury issues. All while coming into the league two years older than Jones.
That is really my only Exhibit, but if Schoen and the G-Men manage to snag a quarterback in this draft, I will put all of my faith in them and for this new quarterback to succeed, or if Jones manages his rehab successfully and is able to play the 2024 season, I hope he and we succeed. Regardless I feel that it is in the Giants best interest that unless they absolutely LOVE a quarterback this year, to run it back with DJ, use the draft capital on best player available. And hope the promising youngsters on the team develop. But with all that said and done, 2024 is a big season for not only Daniel Jones but the New York Giants as a whole.
SebastianMParente.com 
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