The New York Giants may have gone as far as Daniel Jones can take them, after losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.
Jones, in what had been billed as a sort of make-or-break campaign for his tenure as the Giants’ starting quarterback in general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll‘s tenure as the franchise’s powerbrokers, hasn’t come close to living up to expectations for a starter in his sixth season.
Through New York’s first eight games of the 2024 campaign, Jones is completing 62.8 percent of his passes for 1,706 yards with six touchdowns to five interceptions with the Giants mired in a 2-6 start in last place in the NFC East.
While the Giants could continue forward with Jones, even bench him to avoid risking a $23 million injury guarantee for 2025 triggering this offseason and handing the offense over to Drew Lock, Schoen and the front office has a unique opportunity to change course ahead of the NFL trade deadline.
Could the New York Giants Trade for Anthony Richardson?
After the Indianapolis Colts benched quarterback Anthony Richardson, there’s a legitimate chance that the former No. 5 overall draft pick won’t play another down for head coach Shane Steichen.
There’s a possibility that several teams will at least be gauging the Colts’ interest in trading Richardson, and one NFL analyst argues that the Giants should be one of those teams.
“[Brian Daboll] The former Bills offensive coordinator oversaw a lot of that early career progression and is now trying to do the same thing as head coach of the New York Giants,” Alex Ballentine writes for Bleacher Report, suggesting Richardson as a fit for Daboll and the Giants. “The only problem is that Daniel Jones is no longer on his rookie contract, and the Giants could get out of his current deal next offseason with a $22.2 million dead cap charge.
“They are sitting at 2-6 and are a prime candidate to draft a quarterback in the spring. The problem for Daboll is that he might not be around to pick the next passer if things continue to go south in New York. Perhaps making a move for Richardson and showing some growth by the end of the season would be a way to stave off the hot seat. Both the coach and the quarterback could use the fresh start.”
In addition to potentially buying Daboll and Schoen extra time, Richardson would have seven weeks to audition whether he could be the Giants’ franchise quarterback of the future.
Given that Richardson still has three years remaining on his rookie contract (including a potential fifth-year option) New York would also be resetting the clock financially either by paying Richardson on a rookie contract or knowing that they need to emerge from the 2025 NFL Draft with one of the top quarterbacks in this year’s class.
