11 potential Daniel Jones replacements for New York Giants

The Giants need a new quarterback — where will they find one?

The New York Giants have done the easy part, benching Daniel Jones and beginning the process of finding a new franchise quarterback. The hard part — identifying and acquiring that quarterback, then succeeding with him — is yet to come.

Here are some potential replacements for Jones in 2025.

2025 NFL Draft

Shedeur Sanders — Some consider Sanders QB1 in this draft class. Some, like highly-renowned draft analyst Dane Brugler of The Athletic, are unconvinced.

“I don’t have the conviction that this is a guy you can plug in and all of a sudden, he is going to lead my team to wins,” Brugler told Nate Tice of Yahoo! Sports.

“I am not impressed by the physical traits. He is 6-1, 210 as best. His arm is B-level. I think in terms of quarterback style, he reminds me of Jordan Love without the high-end physical traits–they backpedal and throw off their back foot.

“There’s a quarterbacking style that he has that Jordan Love can get away with, but I don’t think Shedeur can get away with it at the next level.”

Cam Ward — With a chance to select the quarterback of his choosing a bye week mock draft, BBV’s Chris Pflum chose Ward. He wrote this of the Miami signal-caller:

“Ward has solid size, good pocket presence and short-area quickness, great field vision, and one of the most elastic arms I’ve ever seen. He might not have truly ELITE arm strength, but he can challenge all areas of the field and do so from off-platform and out of structure.

“Ward is pretty solidly my QB1, but he isn’t without risk. Ward’s willingness to go big play hunting, and his ability to do so successfully, is an undeniable asset to his game and one of the things that will make him attractive to the Giants. But they’ll need to strike a balance in his development between aggressively attacking and taking what the defense gives him.”

Jalen Milroe — The Alabama quarterback’s combination of arm talent and explosive running ability might appeal to Giants coach Brian Daboll. Milroe, though, has the option to go back to school.

The rest — If the Giants miss out or pass on the top three, players like Carson Beck, Jaxson Dart and Quinn Ewers could figure in somewhere in the draft.

Free agency

Sam Darnold — Darnold is showing this season with the Minnesota Vikings that he can be a winning quarterback in the NFL, helping Minnesota to an 8-2 record. Darnold has career-best in passer rating (100.0) and QBR (55.6) and has already tied his career-high with 19 touchdown passes.

With J.J McCarthy waiting in the wings, Darnold should be available this offseason.

Russell Wilson/Justin Fields — One of the two Pittsburgh quarterbacks is likely to be available this offseason. Best guess is it will be Field, who will be 26 next season, rather than Wilson, who will turn 36 next November. Would Wilson be worth a flier?

Jacoby Brissett — If the Giants want a bridge quarterback to keep the seat warm for a highly-drafted one, we know Brissett can do that.

Marcus Mariota — The second overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft has only been a full-time starter once in the last five season (2022 with Atlanta). Mariota has mobility that could appeal to Daboll, and could function as a placeholder/mentor for a young quarterback.

Photo by Elsa/Getty Images

Trade

Kirk Cousins — Yes, seriously. No matter what the Atlanta Falcons say, they didn’t draft Michael Penix No. 8 overall this past offseason to watch him rot on the bench. The Falcons are leading the NFC South, but don’t let anyone kid you about how good they are. They are only 6-5.

Cousins will have three years and $97.5 million in base salary left on the four-year, $180 million contract he signed to join the Falcons this season.

He would be 37 next season, and would obviously be just a short-term solution. Would Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll be desperate enough to win in 2025 that they would make this move.

Trevor Lawrence — This one might surprise you, but the Jaguars are 2-9, currently hold the No. 1 overall pick, head coach Doug Pederson is probably getting fired, and Lawrence has never been the dominant quarterback he was expected to be when Jacksonville drafted him No. 1 overall in 2021. Some might even say he has been Daniel Jones with better hair and a loftier draft pedigree.

Lawrence will still be just 26 when the 2025 season begins, and maybe a change of scenery would be what he needs to unlock the potential that had some calling him a generational prospect coming out of Clemson. If the Giants can’t get one of the top three quarterbacks in the draft class, they could probably do worse than Lawrence.

Of course, Lawrence is only in Year 1 of the five-year, $275 million contract he signed with Jacksonville. So, there is that to consider.

Internal option

Tommy DeVito — I still don’t believe that DeVito is a full-time NFL QB1. Maybe he will prove me wrong over the next seven weeks. Maybe he will show enough that the Giants are comfortable entering 2025 with him as their bridge quarterback. That would save the Giants money as DeVito will be an Exclusive Rights Free Agent next offseason, and the Giants could tender him at a how cost.