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From the moment Daniel Jones was drafted by the New York Giants, the selection was surrounded with debate and skepticism.
Now, with the Giants currently at 1-7, many have speculated what the team would do if they were presented with the opportunity to draft one of the highly-touted quarterbacks expected to declare for the upcoming 2021 NFL Draft.
On Tuesday, Mel Kiper Jr. was a guest on ESPN Radio’s “Keyshawn, JWill and Zubin Show” and discussed Jones at length.
While Kiper did say that Trevor Lawrence (Clemson) and Justin Fields (Ohio State) will have much higher draft grades than Jones did when he was selected, the NFL expert also said that he believes Jones is a franchise quarterback.
Jones has had issues with turnovers over the first 21 games of his career, but it does seem a bit premature for most to be giving up already and looking for his replacement.
Kiper jumped to the defense of Jones, stating that the 23-year-old is still learning and compared the quarterback’s turnover rate to that of Peyton Manning at the start of the future Hall of Famer’s career.
“Let’s lay off Daniel Jones. He showed on the big stage [Monday] night in a key situation that he had some medal in that final drive,” Kiper said. “Now that last throw, in my opinion, that’s pass interference. You throw the flag, it’s pass interference. Simultaneous? That didn’t look simultaneous to me. That was their reason for changing the call. If their reason is it’s simultaneous, they’re wrong, it should have been a flag.
“Daniel Jones is learning. He’s 20 starts into his career, guys. He’s not 65 starts in. Peyton Manning had 23 interceptions his fourth year in the league. He had 100 interceptions in his first five years. He had 53 the five years after that. [Jones] is learning, those are learning teachable moments.
“People ask: ‘when is he going to stop making those mistakes?’ Well, he’s only a year and a half into his career, okay? Josh Allen in Year 2, was making mistakes just like that and in Year 3 he’s not making any of those mistakes. Let’s give these quarterbacks some time, okay?”
By no means is anyone expecting Jones to be as good as Peyton Manning, but the comparison shows that even the best struggle with turnovers during their transition into the NFL.
“This isn’t a six-year veteran making that mistake. This isn’t a four-year guy making that mistake,” Kiper added. “This is year and a half in with a team that’s going to be picking in the top five in the draft.”
Patience is something that doesn’t exist in an instant gratification world, but it’s what’s necessary when developing young quarterbacks. Thankfully, head coach Joe Judge seems to get it even when no one else does.
No one else but Kiper anyway.
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