The Danny Dimes era came to an abrupt end for the New York Giants with the former No. 6 overall pick getting released Friday, just a few days after he was benched by the team.
While Daniel Jones is set to hit the waiver wire, it’d be a shock if any NFL team was willing to claim him and take on the remainder of the four-year, $160 million extension he signed with the Giants in 2023. And when he inevitably clears waivers, he’ll be free to sign with any team.
The Miami Dolphins would be wise to jump at the chance to then add Jones.
Earlier this season, the Dolphins learned a painful lesson: their offense is simply not functional without Tua Tagovailoa at the helm. Miami managed to score just three points in Skylar Thompson’s Week 3 start and it scored only one touchdown in each of the three games Tyler Huntley started.
Since Tagovailoa’s return from injured reserve, the offense has churned back to life. He’s completed 77.7 percent of his passes with seven touchdowns and one interception in the last four weeks and the Dolphins have averaged 27.8 points per game.
But there’s little doubt that if he goes down with another injury, Miami’s season is over. Both Thompson and Huntley — who will soon compete for No. 2 on the depth chart — made it abundantly clear that they are unable to recreate Tagovailoa’s success.
Could Jones?
It’s hard to say, but there are some indications he could be a fit in Mike McDaniel’s offense. Last season, Jones averaged 2.54 seconds per pass attempt — not nearly Tagovailoa’s lightning fast 2.25 seconds — but still top 10 in the NFL. Jones completed an NFL-best 80.4 percent of the passes he released in less than 2.5 seconds. Tagovailoa completed 73.4 percent.
Miami’s offense is entirely reliant on its quarterback being able to deliver the ball quickly and accurately. Even if it’s unlikely that Jones could do so, there’s pretty definitive proof that no one currently on the Dolphins roster can do it even close to the way Tagovailoa can.
At the very least, Jones offers hope that the Dolphins offense could survive another stretch without Tagovailoa long enough to stay in the postseason hunt.
But maybe even more enticing is the fact that signing Jones would likely mean a free draft pick for the Dolphins in the future.
If the former top 10 draft pick and $160 million quarterback leaves as a free agent in March and signs elsewhere, it’d likely be enough to qualify his last team a compensatory draft pick in 2026. Even mid-level backup quarterback money is usually enough to qualify, like when the New York Jets received a 2024 seventh-round pick due to the two-year, $8 million deal Mike White signed with the Dolphins in 2023.
Is Jones the long-term answer to the Dolphins’ backup quarterback woes? Probably not. But he could be a band-aid for a team that is clearly devoid of a solution and maybe provide a little draft capital to boot.
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