Giants’ Brian Daboll non-committal on Daniel Jones, leaves door open for QB change

The Daniel Jones era may finally come to a merciful close.
When asked if Jones would remain his starting quarterback “going forward” on Monday, Giants coach Brian Daboll was non-committal — which opens up the possibility of a competition between him, Drew Lock (the current backup) and Tommy DeVito.
“We’re going to spend a lot of time here watching the tape and evaluating things,” Daboll said. “We’ll do that as a coaching staff over the next week here.”
The news comes just one day after the Giants (2-8) fell to the pathetic Carolina Panthers (3-7) in front of an international audience in Munich, Germany.
Jones, 27, finished the game with 190 yards on 22-of-37 passing, a rushing touchdown and two interceptions. He finished strong no doubt, but he had at least four turnover-worthy mistakes in the first half — including taking a momentum-halting sack on a flea flicker attempt with two wide receivers wide open downfield.
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Jones’ season numbers are … OK — 2,070 passing yards, with a brutal 8-7 touchdown-interception ratio. But clearly Daboll wants to see if a quarterback on roster can post a QBR better than 50.5 against a bottom-three NFL defense (like the Panthers).
The Giants are expected to cut Jones after this season, after the conclusion of what is essentially a two-year, $82 million contract — which was a massive mistake by general manager Joe Schoen.
The Giants are now 3-13 in Jones’ starts since he got that deal. He is 24-44-1 in his career.
The other benefit to benching him? It might save them a ton of money. Remember: Jones has a $23 million injury guarantee in his contract — which means that if he suffers a serious injury that prevents him from passing a physical on March 12, he gets $12 million guaranteed, and if he can’t pass a physical by Week 1 next season, he gets another $11 million.
If the Giants cut Jones after this season, they would free up $19.4 million in salary cap space, with $22.2 million in dead money attached.
The Giants are on a bye week. They face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-6) at home in Week 12.
(NJ Advance Media’s Darryl Slater contributed to this report)
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Ryan Novozinsky may be reached at [email protected]. You can follow him on X @ryannovo62.