In his introductory press conference on Monday morning, new Giants head coach Brian Daboll noted that when he drove through the nor’easter to head to the team facility on Saturday, there were very few people in the building – but one of them was beleaguered quarterback Daniel Jones.
Daboll has yet to really work with Jones, having only been on the job for 72 hours or so, meaning he only knows what he has seen from afar – but in knowing that he is Jones’ third head coach in four years, and possibly bringing in a fourth different system, Daboll knows it will be a bit of an uphill climb that both he and Jones are ready for.
"We're gonna take it day by day, build the relationship slowly, and we're not gonna make any predictions. I wouldn't do that to Daniel or really any other player,” Daboll said. "We're gonna find out what he does well and try to implement a system that suits him, and then it's our job to bring pieces in that help him to be the best version of himself and the best quarterback for us. He's been around the block here these last few years with some different pieces. We're gonna try to give him some stability and just take it from there."
Daboll has had a huge hand in turning Josh Allen into an MVP-caliber quarterback over the last four years, so it’s fair to wonder if he can do the same for Jones – but to the new coach, comparing the situations wouldn’t be fair to either.
“I don't think that's fair to compare him to another guy that I was working with. He's himself,” Daboll said. “Four years ago with Josh, we started together and got consistency, and it took time to build. It’s unfair to compare any other player to that.”
So what does Daboll like about his incumbent signal-caller?
“He's got the right mindset. He's got good size. There's a lot of things to like about Daniel, and we'll just take it one day at a time, working with him and helping him get better,” Daboll said. “We'll help him be a better leader, we'll help him be everything. That's our job as a coaching staff and as an organization. It takes everybody, not just me; it takes a lot to raise a quarterback, if you will.”
He's already started that process, even in the first few days.
“One of the things I asked him to do was tell me some things he really liked the last three years, or even at Duke – some foundational things he feels comfortable with,” Daboll said. “This is going to be a day-to-day process. I won’t put any expectations on him. I know he’s dedicated and a hard worker, and he wants to do well.”
New GM Joe Schoen said last week that he has not yet looked into the consideration of picking up Jones’ fifth-year option, but he looks like he’s pretty safe in year four. In fact, owner John Mara said later, after Daboll’s presser, that he would be “very surprised” if Jones isn’t the starter on Opening Day 2022, and that seemed to be a consensus around everyone the Giants interviewed for both of their staff openings this month.
"I think we did 10 general manager interviews and five head coach interviews, and every single interview was positive about Daniel," Mara said. “They weren’t saying he's gonna be the next Patrick Mahomes or anything like that, but they were excited about the potential he has and the possibility of working with him. And that to me was reassuring, because that's the way we feel as well."
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