Clips of angry New York Giants fans heckling Daniel Jones during and even after the club's season-opening 28-6 home loss to the Minnesota Vikings this past Sunday went viral via social media and seemed to show many supporters have lost hope that Jones will prove to be the Giants' long-term answer at quarterback.
Right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor is among Giants players upset over the fact that some paying customers waited to jeer Jones at the MetLife Stadium players' exit following Sunday's defeat.
"There has to be a line with fans where it’s OK to boo, it’s OK to be frustrated, but to find a guy after a game and hassle him as he’s trying to get to his car, obviously he already feels bad. I don’t like that at all," Eluemunor told Jared Schwartz of the New York Post on Wednesday. "I think that somebody had to say something about that. That’s my quarterback. I’m supposed to protect him on and off the field. I don’t respect that at all."
Vikings linebacker Jonathan Greenard generated headlines when he said during a radio appearance earlier this week that he and some teammates "kind of started to feel a little bit bad for" Jones as fans repeatedly booed the 27-year-old throughout Sunday's blowout. Giants pass-rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux praised Jones on Wednesday for ignoring the hecklers outside MetLife Stadium and for showing what Jones referred to as "mental toughness."
Giants wide receiver Jalin Hyatt suggested Jones hasn't yet lost the locker room amid takes claiming the signal-caller has regressed since he won a road playoff game in January 2023.
"We all have full belief and faith in DJ," Hyatt said of his QB1 on Wednesday, as shared by John Flanigan of SNY. "I’m not worried about him at all. It’s one week. We all forget that he’s coming off of an ACL injury (he suffered on Nov. 5 of last year), so it’s his first time in action. But we know he’ll get better and we’ll get better for him."
If Jones doesn't play better during this Sunday's matchup at the 0-1 Washington Commanders, cries among fans for Big Blue to sit him to ensure the club can release him in March 2025 will grow louder. Jones insisted on Wednesday he'll be "playing to win" rather than to hold onto his job at Washington's Northwest Stadium, but the harsh truth of the matter is that he could be a handful of drives away from being benched in favor of either Drew Lock or Tommy DeVito.
As of Thursday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Giants as 1.5-point underdogs against the Commanders.
