The Giants stuck with Daniel Jones as their quarterback this offseason and General Manager Joe Schoen revealed one of the reasons why during the premiere episode of the latest Hard Knocks season.
Jones struggled on the field in the first five weeks before missing time with a neck injury and then returned to tear his ACL in Week Nine. While discussing Jones on Tuesday night’s episode, Schoen stressed the need to protect themselves against a possible injury while also noting that he’s not “giving up” on Jones with three years left on his contract.
One way Schoen wanted to show that commitment was by bolstering an offensive line that fell well below the standard the team would like to set.
“He didn’t have much of a chance this year,” Schoen said. “That’s legit. The core guys that were gonna play together played 60 snaps together. Miami, we got three fucking practice squad guys playing for us. You could have Pat Mahomes he can’t fucking win behind that.”
Jones won one of his six starts last season and the Giants went 5-6 in games started by Tyrod Taylor and Tommy DeVito.
The Giants’ offensive line needs led some to predict they’d draft a blocker early in the first round, but they opted to take wide receiver Malik Nabers after signing guards Jermaine Eluemunor and Jon Runyan in free agency. Schoen’s hope is that all three players help make for a more effective Jones whenever the quarterback is fully cleared to return to action.