He might have retired this offseason, but Darren Waller is still rooting hard for one of his old New York teammates.
The former Giants tight end has every faith in Daniel Jones to bounce back from a torn ACL last season, even after playing just five games with the oft-maligned quarterback in 2023.
“I’m just excited for him to get another opportunity,” Waller said recently on SiriusXM NFL Radio. “I feel like he gets a bad rep. 2022, man, [he] played such good football. Last year was his first opportunity to get out there and play on the new bag that he got. It was tough for us as an offense to protect him, and you can’t put any quarterback back there and not have any protection and expect them to really, truly thrive in the pocket.
“[I’m] hoping that they can get those things shored up and allow him to have an opportunity to show that he is a talented dude, he’s very athletic, like get his opportunity to play the football that he was playing in 2022. I feel like that’s definitely still in him.”
Jones entered last season at the peak of his Big Blue experience thus far. He was fresh off a surprise playoff run to the NFC Divisional Round and had signed a four-year, $160 million extension following a campaign in which he accounted for 3,913 yards (3,205 throwing, 708 rushing), threw for 15 touchdowns, ran for another seven and led the league with a 1.1 interception percentage.
But there were doubts, especially considering Jones’ extension seemed to trigger the need to franchise tag Saquon Barkley, who a year later is now a member of the rival Eagles.
Jones did little to alleviate them due to circumstances both of his own making and outside of his control.
In six starts during the 2023 season, the QB went 1-5 and threw for just 909 yards with two touchdowns. He tossed six interceptions, which eclipsed his five in 16 contests the year prior thanks to his career-worst 3.8 INT percentage.
He and Waller connected for 23 receptions and 239 yards without a score.
As Jones’ ex-tight end alluded to, though, New York’s offensive line made it anything but easy to perform. He was sacked 30 times, an average of five per game that put him on pace to take 85 by season’s end, and that’s including when he departed one play into the second quarter during his final appearance.
Jones missed Weeks 6-8 with a neck injury before returning in Week 9, only to suffer the ACL tear that ended any chance for him to turn his season around.
Now he enters Year 2 of his current contract needing to reverse his fortunes. He should have all of training camp available to him to prepare to do so after a rehab process he called “pretty smooth” last week. NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport also reported that the 27-year-old is expected to avoid the physically unable to perform list.
Although he won’t have Waller to target, Jones should benefit mightily from gaining wide receiver Malik Nabers, the No. 6 overall pick in April’s draft, and the Giants also added offensive linemen Jermaine Eluemunor, Jon Runyan and Aaron Stinnie to beef up his protection.
It’s far from a given, but there’s still time — and hopefully the pieces — to rewrite the narrative of Jones’ time with New York.
“I know him for a fact, he’s motivated and excited to get back out there, excited to lead,” Waller said. “That’s when you learn the most about dudes is responding to opportunities like this.”
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