That is the question that will define the offseason, and perhaps determine the fates of GM Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll
Ahh, quarterback. The position around which everything revolves for the New York Giants this offseason. Let’s look back at 2024 and ahead to 2025 as we complete our series of position reviews.
2024 in review
The roster
Daniel Jones, Drew Lock, Tommy DeVito, Tim Boyle
“The year for Daniel.”
That is what GM Joe Schoen famously called the 2024 season when he was unable to trade up for Drake Maye in the 2024 NFL Draft.
It certainly was. Until it wasn’t.
When Schoen made that remark, he never meant this was the year he expected Jones to play better than ever before and lead the Giants to fantastic new heights. He meant that 2024 would be the year Jones, in his sixth year with the Giants and third with Brian Daboll as head coach, would show the organization one way or the other if he was the quarterback the Giants could go forward with beyond the 2024 season.
Obviously, he wasn’t.
Jones could not come close to duplicating his career-best 2022 season, when he was more efficient, more impactful as a runner, and more clutch than at any other time in his career.
After a disastrous loss to the Carolina Panthers in Germany that saw the Giants fall to 2-8, where Jones turned the ball over twice in the red zone and failed to throw the ball on a flea flicker with both Malik Nabers and Wan’Dale Robinson running wide open, the Giants moved on. They benched Jones, then waived him at his request.
Then, the Drew Lock-Tommy DeVito merry-go-round began. It didn’t matter. As poorly as Jones played, watching both Lock and DeVito it was clear that Jones had been the Giants’ best quarterback.
He just wasn’t nearly good enough.
2025 outlook
Unknown.
Jones is in Minnesota, and perhaps headed to free agency. Lock is headed to free agency. DeVito, an Exclusive Rights Free Agent, will likely be back but won’t be guaranteed a roster spot. Tim Boyle? Please. He is the entire NFL’s emergency quarterback, the guy who plays because there is nobody else who can play.
So, who is it gonna be? Or, what combination of guys will it be? That’s the question that defines the Giants offseason.
- Cam Ward? Nice dream, but probably not.
- Shedeur Sanders? Who knows how the Giants will feel about Deion’s son.
- Jaxson Dart/Jalen Milroe? They would need development time Brian Daboll might not have.
- J.J. McCarthy? Like Ward, probably not.
- Sam Darnold? Can you trust him after the way he played the past two weeks?
- Kirk Cousins? Maybe as a stop-gap.
- Jameis Winston/Carson Wentz/Jimmy Garappolo/some other journeyman bridge quarterback? Any of those guys is a Band-Aid.
