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The New York Giants (1-6) will host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-2) on Monday Night Football this week and one of the ESPN booth analysts will be Louis Riddick, who was seriously considered for the Giants’ general manager vacancy that went to Dave Gettleman three years ago.
Riddick is usually spot-on with much of his analysis, which is why his name comes up every year for open NFL front office jobs. Right now, he’s lending his expertise to the underwhelming ESPN broadcasts but this week, he’s got a lot to say about the team that shunned him and a top draft pick that he would not have taken had he been the team’s GM.
That player is quarterback Daniel Jones, the sixth overall selection in the 2019 NFL Draft — a pick Riddick was critical of at the time. He felt Dwayne Haskins over Jones, a selection that has not panned out well for Washington.
Although Haskins, selected in the middle of the first round in 2019, has been a complete washout in Washington, Jones has had his struggles as well. Riddick has not given up completely on Jones though.
The major issues hampering Jones and stunting his — and the Giants’ — success are his turnovers and the team’s failure to supply him with a sufficient supporting cast.
“If he doesn’t correct it and it becomes a bigger problem, then you go to the next phase of the evaluation: Is this his surroundings or is this who he is now?” Riddick told The New York Post. “They are not at that point yet — and I don’t think anybody needs to be at that point until you get a more stable supporting cast, and you keep a coaching staff in place for more than one year.”
True. Jones is on his second coaching staff in as many years. He also has a new offensive line and his most coveted weapons — running back Saquon Barkley and Sterling Shepard — have been bitten by the turnover bug again this year. Jones has also had to deal with inconsistent play from his other teammates such as tight end Evan Engram and wide receivers Golden Tate and Darius Slayton.
If the Giants continue their losing ways, Gettleman could be replaced as early the end of this season. That could open the door for Riddick or another 21st century thinker to take over Big Blue.
Right now, Riddick contends the jury is still out on Jones and replacing him should not be a knee-jerk decision because of the circumstances Jones had been operating under.
Cutting down on the turnovers would go a long way to clarifying the type of player Jones is and could possibly become. He is often compared to Ryan Tannehill, a first round pick of the Miami Dolphins who has gone on to become of the league’s most productive quarterbacks for the Tennessee Titans.
“You can’t make sweeping decisions about what kind of player he is going to be because there are too many things around him that are uncertain,” Riddick said. “The one thing he does need to cut down is turning over the football because then you have no shot of winning. If he keeps doing that, you are not going to win games. If you don’t win games, people look to replace you.”