Joe Judge Reveals How He Initially Viewed Daniel Jones

One year after taking the job as head coach of the New York Giants, there doesn’t seem to be any doubt that Joe Judge is committed to Daniel Jones.

At the beginning of his tenure, Judge refused to refer to Jones–or any other Giants player for that matter–by name. He did this as a way of emphasizing that every player was starting with a clean slate.

On Tuesday, Judge praised Jones during an appearance on WFAN in New York, though the young head coach did admit that he wasn’t sure if his second-year quarterback was the building block the team needed.

“Specifically with Daniel, and I shared this with him earlier in the year, I told him, I said, ‘Look, part of the thing we have to evaluate this year is I have to evaluate you.’ [I had to] see if he was really the answer and see if he was the guy we could build with,” Judge said, via Giants.com.

Jones got off to a slow start to the season, and his final numbers were pedestrian (2,943 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions), but Judge said he was impressed by the overall package.

Apparently, he’s all-in on the former No. 6 overall pick.

“There hit a point in the year where you could see there were different traits that he had that the team really responded to and his level of play was raised. Look, there were a lot of things you could argue in terms of statistical output, this and that, but I’m telling you, when you watch the guy and how he handles the huddle, when you watch how he has command of the offense, when you watch how he adjusts with game plans, when you see the level of toughness he plays with, when you watch him prepare away from the field better than anybody else on a daily basis – and that’s saying a lot because our guys empty the tank every day – there’s a lot of things you look at him and say, hey, this guy gives us confidence going forward with him because we know he’s going to be prepared. We know he’s going to compete, and we’ve seen improvement from him.”

The Giants had the second-worst offense in the NFL this season, and the team is expected to pursue multiple avenues of adding “playmakers” on that side of the ball this offseason.

By doing so, they will be able to set Jones up with a better situation in Year Three. If he performs well, it will validate Judge’s faith in him.

But if he falters, Big Blue could be looking for a new QB in 2022.

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