Daniel Jones Could be Winning You Money Right Now

By Matt Schauf 9:55am EDT 6/9/22

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Daniel Jones, QB, Giants

What You Need to Know:

• The Giants head into 2022 with a new HC (Brian Daboll) and new GM (Joe Schoen), both from Buffalo.
• Here’s what Daboll said in May regarding his new QB: “We have to develop an offense that fits his skillset, which he has plenty of [skills]. He's athletic. He's big. He's got some mobility to him. I think It's a collaborative effort on some of the stuff he likes and continue to help him improve. He's got a great mindset. He's got some good mental toughness about him. We're taking it day by day."
• The Giants declined the 5th-year option on Jones’ rookie contract this offseason, making 2022 the final year on his contract.
• The new leadership also added only Tyrod Taylor to the position, passing on multiple opportunities to select a QB in a draft that only saw 1 picked among the first 73 players.
• Daboll has spoken publicly – on multiple occasions – about encouraging Jones to take shots downfield and worry less about turnovers, especially in practice.
• Among 35 QBs who attempted at least 20 deep throws last year, Jones ranked dead-last by throwing deep (20+ yards downfield) on just 6.6% of his total attempts, according to Pro Football Focus. He checked in 31st among 38 in 2020 and 21st among 35 back in 2019.
• His deep rate has declined each of the past 2 years, from 11.8% as a rookie to 9.6% in 2020 and last year’s 6.6%. Jones’ top 3 wideouts in 2019 were Golden Tate, Darius Slayton and Sterling Shepard. So the shift seems to be more reticence from a QB who turned the ball over a lot as a rookie rather than a decline in surrounding talent.
• Among 35 QBs with 600+ attempts since Jones entered the league 3 seasons ago, he ranks just 27th in yards per attempt and 30th in yards per completion.
• Jones’ average target depth has declined each of the past 2 years. All 3 of his NFL averages in that category have come in shorter than his averages from his final 2 college campaigns, according to PFF.
• The Giants drafted WR Wan’Dale Robinson in Round 2. Kadarius Toney and Kenny Golladay should each start the season healthier than they spent 2021. Sterling Shepard heads toward 2022 as a big question mark after suffering an Achilles’ tear on Dec. 19.
• The team let TE Evan Engram walk at the end of his rookie contract, replacing him with low-cost free agents Ricky Seals-Jones and Jordan Akins, and 4th-round rookie Daniel Bellinger.

Draft Sharks Bottom Line:

There’s room to dissect Jones further as an NFL QB, but there’s not much reason to do so here. Even if the new Giants leadership isn’t committing to him beyond 2022, they’re clearly locked in on him as the guy for the coming season. And you’re not drafting Jones to be a fantasy QB1. He makes plenty of sense as a late QB2 or high-upside QB3, though. Jones looks particularly attractive for best-ball formats, with all of his surrounding pieces going at value in ADP. Kadarius Toney sits earliest among Giants WRs in Underdog ADP as of this writing, at WR48.