The Inglorious End of the Daniel Jones Era

I saw earlier today that the Daniel Jones era with the New York Giants has officially ended. Let’s discuss.

This seems pretty harsh and fast, but not all that crazy if you look at his short lived career. Jones was never the answer with the Giants. I can remember writing about him before he was drafted. I had him firmly in my bust category. He didn't really have the juice in my opinion. He seemed slow, he wasn't very accurate and I figured the bright lights of NYC were going to be too much for him. It seems like I, along with many other writers, had him pegged perfectly. And don't let some phony stats or one playoff win fool you. He was never the reason why the Giants had any of the minimal success they had while he was the starting QB.

The Giants won during that time because they had a killer defense and Saquon Barkley. Look at how stacked the boxes were when Barkley was drafted by the Giants. The guy was facing seven and eight man boxes and he was still producing. The Giants defense during that time created turnovers and rushed the passer. They did the little things they needed, had a superstar in Barkley and they won in spite of Daniel Jones.

Where the Giants screwed up was giving Jones such an enormous contract after their playoff run a few years back. They picked Jones over the Barkley and the rest is history. Barkley played one more season with the Giants, putting up somewhat decent numbers, and now he is thriving in Philadelphia. That team knows how to use their running backs, they have a legit MVP caliber QB in Jalen Hurts, their defense has taken a step up and Barkley seems to be the missing piece. This couldn't have worked out any better for Saquon Barkley.

Daniel Jones, well, as mentioned up top, he was cut today. Before that he was benched in favor of Tommy Devito. I don't know why Brian Daboll picked Devito over Drew Locke, but he did. Maybe Daboll wants out of NYC as well. But, they picked a flash in the pan who is more noteworthy for what his agent wears than anything he has ever done on the field. That speaks volumes to me. The Giants are going to eat whatever money they owe Jones now, but they don't care, they just want him gone. He was taking 4th string QB reps in practice yesterday and they even deployed him at safety on the Giants scout team defense for this week. I have to imagine when that happened that Jones knew it was only a matter of time before he was gone. I mean the disrespect they showed him is kind of sad but also hilarious to me.

What I don't think I'll get over as a fan of football is picking him over Barkley. Barkley is a generational back. He can run and catch. He is a good return man. He knows what he does best and he excels at that while always trying to get bigger, faster and stronger. Jones looks like a dope on and off the field. He seems like he doesn't really want to play this sport that made him millions of dollars. It is clear that he wasn't the guy for this job from day one. I'll be curious to see where his career takes him from here, but I have to assume he will never be more than a backup until he retires. And Saquon Barkley may be the spark to an Eagles team that could make a deep playoff run this year and seasons after this. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Daniel Jones Over Saquon Barkley and Other Notable Sports Decisions

While out to coffee with my dad this morning we were talking about how the Giants picked Daniel Jones over Saquon Barkley. Let’s discuss.

We both agreed that this was a bad choice by the Giants front office. Barkley is a generational talent. He scored three TDs on the opening weekend. He is a good pass catcher out of the backfield, can return kicks and is hard to tackle and has some good open field speed. Daniel Jones is Daniel Jones. He threw two pick 6's last weekend. He has thrown more pick 6's than long TD passes since signing his massive deal. The Vikings defense said that they "started to feel bad" for him during the last game. He is one of the worst starting QB's in the NFL. His contract is rough, and this decision is going to lead to a bunch of people looking for a new job next season.

This conversation had me thinking after coffee. I was out for a run and I started to think more and more about these decisions by front offices. Both good and bad choices came to mind. The bad choices are much more provocative, but the good ones can be beneficial. One of the good ones I thought of was the Denver Nuggets picking Nikola Jokic over Jusuf Nurkic. I am not a Jokic fan, but the Nuggets have won a title, been a contender every year and Jokic has won three MVP awards. While I like Nurkic's game, he isn't even close to Jokic's level. He has no rings, no MVP awards, no all star game appearances. He has solid numbers, but he is a fringe starter at best. Another good move in choosing a player is the Raptors picking Kyle Lowry to stay after trading for Kawhi Leonard. Someone had to go, and that someone was DeMar DeRozan. DeRozan is going to be much more appreciated when he retires. He is a great mid range scorer, has had a long and personally successful career and is beloved by his teammates on every team he has been a part of. But he had to go to acquire Leonard, and Lowry fits much better with his game. The Raptors got a title out of this. DeRozan is still searching for his first ring. As for football, the Patriots decision to stick with Tom Brady after Drew Bledsoe got hurt will go down in history. Brady and the Patriots had a dynasty and many consider Brady as one of the greatest QB's ever. Bledsoe had a fine career, but it doesn't even come close to what Brady and the Patriots achieved once they moved on from him.

Now for the bad decisions, the Jones over Barkley type decision. The first one that comes to my mind is the Dolphins picking Daunte Caulpepper over Drew Brees. At the time, I thought Culpepper was the correct choice. He had more success at that point, Brees was coming off injury, Culpepper was more mobile and had a better arm. Well, Culpepper flamed out pretty quick and Drew Brees has multiple MVP's and a Super Bowl ring. He is also one of the best to ever play the position. He is going to be a hall of famer for sure. Culpepper, he will unfortunately be a footnote. The Bears decided in the 2017 draft that they had to trade up one spot to take Mitch Trubisky. Some players that went after Trubisky include Christian McCaffery, Jamal Adams, Evan Engram, Jabrill Peppers, TJ Watt, David Njoku, oh yeah, and Patrick Mahomes. Sure, maybe the Bears didn't need some of the other guys due to position. But, they picked Trubisky over Mahomes. That is some Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan stuff right there. Getting back to picking a player over another player, the last one I want to bring up is Kobe Bryant over Shaq. This one may cause division with others. Kobe had a great career post Shaq. That is undeniable. He won MVP awards. He won titles. He was always on the all star team. He is one of the better NBA players we have ever seen. But it took time. Kobe wasn't instantly successful after the Lakers picked him over Shaq. It took time. On the other hand, Shaq won a title immediately. He teamed up with Dwyane Wade in Miami and got a ring that season. Shaq was what the Heat needed, he went there and he won right away. We all remember how Shaq told the world he was better too. Look it up. Shaq was also beloved, for the most part. Kobe was not. His teammates despised him from what I have read. Shaq was fun. Kobe was vigilant. Shaq knew what to do and when to do it. Kobe expected things from people that may not have been able to provide it. I am also a Shaq fan, so that is why I believe the Lakers made the wrong choice. But, I do have to say that both parties benefited from the choice.

Let me know if you all have some that I may have missed out on. I like stuff like this. Send them my way. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.