Giants GM Joe Schoen says Daniel Jones is starter when healthy, but team will address QB position in offseason

The New York Giants extended themselves last offseason and handed Daniel Jones a four-year contract worth $160 million. To this point, the organization hasn’t exactly received the caliber of play from the quarterback position that costs an average of $40 million per season. To make matters worse, Jones suffered a season-ending ACL tear in early November that puts his availability for the start of the 2024 campaign into question. Despite this shaky start in Jones’ first year of his new deal, the front office still appears to be behind him.

With New York now in its Week 13 bye following a win over the Patriots on Sunday, general manager Joe Schoen told reporters on Monday that he’s confident Jones will attack his rehab and is still the franchise’s starter whenever he returns to full strength.

“The expectation is when Daniel is healthy that he will be our starting quarterback,” said Schoen, via SNY. “At the end, we don’t have a crystal ball in terms of how the rehab is going to go. Different patients respond differently to these surgeries whether there’s swelling in the knee or any setbacks. Again, nobody has a crystal ball in this but that’s the expectation moving forward.”

In Jones’ six starts this season before going down with the injury, the Giants were 1-5 and the quarterback had just two passing touchdowns alongside six interceptions. Those picks exceeded last year’s total when Jones threw just five interceptions over 16 starts en route to the Giants reaching the postseason. That regression in 2023 has opened back up the question of whether or not Jones is the quarterback that can lead New York to consistent contention in the NFC.

While Tyrod Taylor and, more recently, Tommy DeVito have somewhat kept the Giants afloat in Jones’ absence, Schoen admitted that the Giants will have to address the position in some capacity this offseason.

“I think we’re going to have to do something in the quarterback [room], whether it’s free agency or the draft,” he said. “We don’t know when [Jones] is going to be ready. Just from an offseason program standpoint, that’ll be a position that we’ll have to address it at some point.”

When asked if that meant taking a signal-caller in the first round, Schoen answered, “We’ll take the best player available. If the best player available for our team is at a certain position, we’ll take it. We won’t shy away from it.”

At 4-8, the Giants would currently be slotted with the No. 6 overall pick at the 2024 NFL Draft if the regular season ended today. However, there is the possibility of New York moving a bit higher on the draft board as they possess the second-toughest remaining schedule (tied with Cincinnati) in the league with their opponents owning a combined win percentage of .636.

While the Giants did sign Jones to a four-year deal last offseason, the club could get out of his contract following the 2024 campaign and clear roughly $20 million in cap space for 2025, so this new deal likely doesn’t preclude them from any QB-related moves this offseason.