New York Giants: What Daniel Jones can bring to the table

The New York Giants are officially making Daniel Jones their starting quarterback. What does the rookie bring to the table for this team?

The New York Giants are officially moving on from Eli Manning and making rookie Daniel Jones their starting quarterback ahead of their week three matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Jones completed over 85 percent of his passes in the preseason, and was dropping dimes all over the place. He picked up right where he left off at Duke when he had a phenomenal performance in the Blue Devils’ bowl game against Temple, throwing five touchdown passes and running for another.

Jones is certainly a highly debated prospect in 2019.

The Giants used the sixth overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft on him and that pick was met with a ton of criticism for a few reasons.

First of all, Jones finished his college career with a 59.9 percent completion rate, and you can bump that up to the ‘minimum’ threshold of 60 percent due to his receivers dropping a lot of passes.

But Jones also didn’t put up wild numbers in college. His being drafted sixth overall was more based on what the Giants believed were franchise QB traits than franchise QB production.

So what does Jones bring to the table immediately for New York? Why was this the right move other than just getting your franchise QB on the field and moving forward as an organization?

Accuracy

One of Jones’ best traits? Accuracy to all levels of the field. Again, he missed plenty in college — you don’t get to 60 percent over three seasons of starting just by receivers dropping passes. There’s a mix of inaccuracy in there but that is one of his most improved traits and something he put on display in the preseason.

Jones showed off his ability to be accurate and throw the ball with great timing all throughout the preseason, and even though he was going against second- and third-string players, he was making some ridiculous throws in tight coverage.

Athleticism

Watching Jones play at Duke, one of his most underrated traits is his athletic ability.

Jones had 17 rushing touchdowns at Duke. He had some big-time run plays and can not only make plays with his feet but he can throw on the move as well.

He ran a respectable 4.81 in the 40-yard dash but his ability to make plays with his legs is more than just speed. He’s got a good feel for when to take off and run, and he is a threat to take off if the play breaks down.

A spark

The Giants are obviously in need of some kind of change. Even if Jones struggles early on, chances are his being inserted in the lineup is going to provide a spark for this team.

The Giants know what Eli Manning is at this point. Unfortunately, keeping him out there wasn’t helping the team win games and something had to be done.

The Giants’ offensive weapons are putting up nice numbers right now even with Odell Beckham out of the picture, an injury to Sterling Shepard, and the suspension of Golden Tate. Jones will be able to get into a groove before those two receivers come back and perhaps he can help the Giants get more shots downfield early in games than Manning could, or his ability to escape pressure will elongate drives and create more opportunities for their playmakers.

Whatever the case, the Giants needed to make this move, as hard as it was going to be from the beginning. The Daniel Jones era is here.