New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones proved a sea of doubters wrong this season, enjoying a terrific rookie campaign and making a lot of those same doubters believe that he was, in fact, worth the sixth overall pick of the NFL Draft.
In 13 appearances and 12 starts this year, Jones threw for 3,027 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions while completing 61.9 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 87.7. He also rushed for 279 yards and a couple of scores while averaging a robust 6.2 yards per carry.
Now, Jones will head into 2020 as the clear-cut starter for the Giants, meaning that the Jones era has truly begun.
So, ere are three biggest questions for Jones entering the offseason.
3. Is he an injury risk?
Eli Manning played 16 years for the Giants. He never missed a game due to injury.
Jones has played one season in New York, and he has already missed a couple of contests due to a high-ankle sprain.
Given the type of quarterback Jones is, a guy who likes to get out of the pocket and make plays with his legs, he is more at risk for injury than your prototypical pocket quarterbacks.
It makes you wonder, then, just how durable Jones will be going forward.
The Giants aren't used to having signal-callers get hurt, as Manning was an ironman throughout his lengthy tenure. Can Jones stay healthy under center for Big Blue?
2. How will he adjust to adjustments?
Remember Baker Mayfield in 2018? He had a tremendous rookie season, breaking the single-season rookie record with 27 touchdown passes.
This year was an entirely different story, as Mayfield labored all season long and never quite found his footing.
Obviously, defenses adjusted to Mayfield, and Mayfield was not able to respond in kind.
What will Jones do now that defenses will be adjusting to him?
You can bet that opposing teams (especially in the NFC East) will be watching a whole lot of film of Jones this offseason and will become more aware of his tendencies, strengths and weaknesses.
Sophomore slumps are a real thing for that very reason, and Jones needs to be prepared to take that challenge head on and flip the script on opposing defenses.
1. Can he fix the fumbling problem?
Jones' great rookie year would have been even better had it not been for a chronic ball security issue that resulted in an alarming 23 fumbles in 2019, 11 of which he lost.
Those are turnovers, and they are just as bad as interceptions (sometimes even worse), and it is a problem that Jones absolutely needs to fix pronto.
Surely, Giants coaches will be working on remedying this with Jones throughout the offseason, and it is absolutely a fixable issue, but Jones needs to get it right fast.
It's especially concerning taking into consideration that Jones is a running quarterback and will be taking more hits than your average signal-caller, and behind a shoddy New York offensive line (that will hopefully get better this offseason), Jones has to take better care of the football to avert disaster.
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