When the Giants drafted quarterback Daniel Jones in 2019, Pat Shurmur was the head coach and Mike Shula was the offensive coordinator. In 2020, Joe Judge was the Giants’ head coach and Jason Garrett was the offensive coordinator. In 2021 Judge returned but fired Garrett during the season and replaced him with Freddie Kitchens. And now Brian Daboll is the Giants’ head coach and Mike Kafka is the offensive coordinator.
Add it all up, and Jones has had to adjust to a lot of different coaching in a short time. And Jones’ predecessor as the Giants’ starting quarterback, Eli Manning, thinks that’s a challenging situation for Jones.
Manning noted that the Giants had a lot more coaching consistency early in Manning’s own career, with Tom Coughlin coaching the Giants for Manning’s first 12 seasons, and Manning thinks that stability was a key to his growth.
“By my fifth year, I had been in the same offense the whole time, I knew it, I could coach it up, new guys are coming in, I was speaking the same language as my offensive coordinator and as Coach Coughlin, and kind of preaching the same stuff,” Manning said on NFL Network. “And with [Jones], it’s all new, and it’s learning, and he’s consistently trying to learn and learn and learn, and it just takes some time before it all sinks in.”
Manning is optimistic that the Giants now have the right system in place for Jones.
“I think with Coach Daboll, and what they’re doing, and that staff, and [new GM] Joe Schoen, having been around the facility some, the atmosphere has changed,” Manning said. “So I’m excited for Daniel, I know he’s worked extremely hard and you know, been through a lot of offenses, a lot of coaching changes, so hopefully this can be the right one.”
The Giants declined the fifth-year option on Jones’ rookie contract, which means he’s slated to hit free agency after this season. He has every opportunity to prove himself worthy of a big second contract -- and if he falls short, the Giants will keep their coach in place, but change quarterbacks.
