Joe Schoen could not have made it any more clear: He and the Giants are sticking with Daniel Jones.
The second-year general manager spoke Monday with the media for the first time since the start of this season and what happens next at quarterback was front and center as a hot topic.
Jones underwent surgery five days ago to repair a torn ACL in his right knee.
He was 1-5 as a starter before he went down, and the Giants are 4-8 this season. They currently sit with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
“He’s in there rehabbing right now,’’ Schoen said of Jones. “He’s gonna attack it, you guys all know Daniel and his work ethic, he’s probably a guy we’re going to have to pull back.
“The expectation is when Daniel is healthy he will be our starting quarterback. We don’t have a crystal ball on how the rehab is gonna go, different patients respond differently to these surgeries.’’
Schoen and the Giants gave Jones a four-year contract worth $160 million this past offseason and the first year of the deal could not have gone worse for Jones and the team.
He played poorly (two touchdown passes, six interceptions) behind a shaky offensive line. He hurt his neck and missed three games. He returned and tore his ACL.
Jones is not going anywhere. Tyrod Taylor’s contract expires after this season. Undrafted rookie Tommy DeVito, now 2-1 as the emergency starter, is signed through the 2024 season.
“I think we’re going to have to do something at quarterback, whether it’s free agency or the draft, just where we are,’’ Schoen said. “Tyrod’s contract is up, DeVito is obviously under contract and Daniel, we don’t know when he’s going to be ready. Just from an offseason program standpoint that will be a position we will have to look and address it at some point.’’
There are different ways to address the position and taking a quarterback high in the draft is one of the options. It does not sound as if Schoen is thinking that way right now.
It sounds far more likely the projected plan is to bring in an experienced quarterback, along with DeVito, and wait and see if Jones will be ready for the start of next season.
Of course, Schoen is not going to tip his hand as to what his draft strategy is going to be.
He and his scouting department have scouted the top quarterbacks in this year’s draft and he did not state he would not take a quarterback with his first-round pick.
“There’s different ways we can address the position,’’ Schoen said. “There’s no guarantees as of right now that Daniel will be ready Week 1, so that’s how you got to approach it.
“Who can we bring in that can maybe help us win a couple of games while Daniel gets healthy? Or maybe Daniel will be ready. There’s just some unknowns right now and we’ll know as we get closer to free agency where he is in his rehab and how we need to approach the offseason.’’
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