Daniel Jones tore the ACL in his right knee on Nov. 5.
The Giants’ quarterback is already on the spring practice field running and throwing. But it’s impossible to expect Jones’ mobility to be 100% and in top form come September, even if he is able to run capably in a straight line.
Every player recovers from a torn ACL differently. Some get back in eight or nine months. Others don’t truly feel like themselves again until the second full season after their injury.
This will be a major factor in what Giants coach Brian Daboll ends up doing at quarterback this fall: whether Jones can use his best assets when he’s on the field.
This is one of many reasons why Drew Lock’s name keeps coming up in conversations about who will be the Giants’ starting quarterback for the 2024 season.
The latest was NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah’s explanation on his ‘Move The Sticks’ podcast for why the Giants didn’t draft a QB after trying unsuccessfully to trade up for Drake Maye.
“I believe Drew Lock has got a really good shot of winning that job,” Jeremiah said this week. “He’s gonna be in the mix there. So they were comparing Daniel Jones and Drew Lock – and I would [put] emphasis on Drew Lock – to the quarterbacks that were gonna be there. And I think the line for them was Drake Maye. After that, they weren’t taking [one].”
There is fire, not just smoke, that Lock could end up playing a lot of football for the Giants this season. Russell Wilson’s visit in March before Lock’s signing, for one, was the first sign that the team was searching for competition for Jones.
After Lock signed with the Giants, Seahawks GM John Schneider told 710 Seattle Sports radio that the Giants “basically sold [Lock] on the opportunity to compete to be the starter. And he felt like it was the right opportunity. He looked at Baker Mayfield’s opportunity last year [in Tampa] and felt that this could be something similar.”
A league source had told the Daily News the same thing.
“Drew signed there because they told him he’d have a chance to start,” the source said.
Lock’s one-year, $5 million contract also features up to $3 million extra in bonuses, including $1 million in playing time incentives. He will receive $250,000 if he plays 40% of the Giants’ snaps in 2024, plus $250,000 apiece for the 50%, 60% and 70% markers, as well.
This reinforces that Lock is taking a calculated gamble on having ample opportunities in Daboll’s offense this season. He said when he signed, after all, that he knew “there’s a possibility for me to get a lot of reps in OTAs” as Jones continues to rehab his knee.
Jones, despite his flaws and inconsistencies, has been a better and more productive NFL player than Lock, of course. So it’s not like Lock is obviously an upgrade over the Giants’ incumbent.
Lock only threw for 2,933 yards, 16 touchdowns, 15 interceptions and a 57.3 completion % in his one nearly full season starting for the Denver Broncos in 2020.
The problem for Jones, though, is it may be difficult for him to use his legs effectively early in this pivotal season, even after he told The Athletic on Wednesday that he’ll be “ready to go” for training camp.
Jones earned his mega-contract with the Giants in large part by rushing for 708 yards and seven touchdowns during the franchise’s 2022 playoff season. And generally speaking, it is difficult for players to not skip a beat so quickly coming off that injury.
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, Jones’ friend and former teammate, for example, is a physical freak. But after tearing his right ACL on Sept. 20, 2020, Barkley said it took him until “after the Saints” game on Oct. 3, 2021, before “I felt like I would probably have been on track to being one of those guys within the next season to get back to where you were or even better.”
Granted, Barkley plays a different position that requires more changes of direction and starts and stops than Jones’ straight-line scrambling as a quarterback. Barkley also had more damage in his knee than just his ACL, while Jones said he tore his ACL alone.
So those are reasons to be optimistic that Jones might at least function as a runner in September.
Still, left guard Justin Pugh tore his right ACL on Oct. 16, 2022, with the Arizona Cardinals and returned to his first game almost a year to the day on Oct. 15 of last season with the Giants.
His presence helped the line, but at the end of the season, Pugh said he was looking forward to a healthy offseason because he anticipated returning to full strength in 2025.
The body simply takes time to heal.
Jones’ two career neck injuries are also a risk to consider. Functionally, though, the timeline for his knee’s recovery is something to watch closely.
Because any compromised Jones mobility probably would swing the door to a Lock opportunity open even wider than it already is.
Joe Schoen, Daboll, Jones and the Giants can’t afford to be patient with a slow start.