As Daniel Jones enters another pivotal season, one that could wind up being his last in New York, the quarterback continues to draw off-the-field comparisons to his predecessor in Eli Manning, who carried a very similar demeanor behind a microphone or whenever he was asked about his performance on Sundays.
As Jones told Gio at Giants camp on Tuesday morning, that similarity isn’t fully by design, but he did draw some inspiration from the two-time Super Bowl MVP.
“Not directly or not over and over again where I felt like I really needed to do that,” Jones said on if the Giants made a point for their quarterback to mimic Manning’s personality. “More than anything, I watched him in a lot of ways and thought what he did was smart. He had a lot of success doing it. There are ways I tried to emulate some of those things.
“Personality wise, maybe we have some similarities too that showed itself through the media. But it wasn’t like a hard, ‘Do exactly what Eli does and you’ll be okay’ type of message.”
Gio wants to see more personality from Jones, perhaps take a page out of head coach Brian Daboll’s book, but Jones, despite joking that he will have to take Gio’s assessment to heart, seems content with how he carries himself around the press, even if it brings about regular Manning comparisons.
“I think there’s a balance to it. Always trying to think through that and what the best way to handle that is,” Jones said. “But I appreciate the advice, Gio. Maybe I’ll think about that and think about how I present myself.”