Daniel Jones may stink, but the Giants did him dirty before releasing him

Two things can be true, and in the case of the New York Giants releasing Daniel Jones on Friday, that’s, well, the truth.

The first true thing: Daniel Jones probably isn’t a starting QB-caliber player in the NFL. As a Giants fan myself, I’ve watched pretty much every snap he’s taken, and I can tell you that while he’s a pretty good runner and OK when he has to throw only a few yards downfield, he struggles with decision-making and any pass over 10 yards.

The second thing is more damning and damaging for the franchise: the Giants bungled this whole situation from the get-go.

Signing him to a bigger deal — four years and $160 million back in 2023 –after one playoff win, in a season in which he was basically a game manager who got the ball out of his hands quickly, was a mistake.

But if the dead cap hit was going to be the same whether they released him now or in 2025, why string him along and keep him on the roster?

Why, after benching him for Tommy DeVito, did they decide to stash him, demote him as QB4 and use him as a scout team safety, and only after his written statement and the criticism from fans about handling this, did they release him?

Coach Brian Daboll had to face those questions on Friday:

Brian Daboll on why they didn’t get to this resolution with Daniel Jones earlier in the week: pic.twitter.com/l3QreyxQXT

— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) November 22, 2024

This is bad. It’s bad because future free agents see this and think badly of how things are run. It’s bad because the current roster saw how Jones was treated, and there was talk that players were confused as to the thinking behind it.

I get that the Giants are now in full tank mode and are heading toward restarting with a new quarterback like Shedeur Sanders.

But this process will be a mark against them in the future.