When the New York Giants report to training camp later this month, all eyes will be on Eli Manning, Daniel Jones and the quarterback position. In fact, it will likely be a daily headline across the football world.
Do the Giants have a competition at the position? Do they not? Head coach Pat Shurmur has been somewhat vague in that regard.
“I think we’re going to play the very best player,” Shurmur told reporters in June. “I know we’re dancing around the words there. Eli is getting ready to have a great year and Daniel is getting ready to play. We’ll see what happens with it.”
Let’s take a look at what the Giants can expect from each…
Eli Manning
Is Manning’s arm dead? At the age of 38, is he over-the-hill? How can the Giants have been so foolish as to hitch their wagon to Manning? This man is damning the franchise.
Those have been the headlines this offseason and that’s likely to persist no matter how well Manning plays in training camp, but whether those pushing the narrative like it or not, the veteran is on pace to start in Week 1 against the Dallas Cowboys.
Despite the presence of Daniel Jones, Manning has continued with his usual routine and has drawn praise from his teammates for both his professionalism and his determination, as well as sporting a still-impressive arm.
In fact, earlier in the offseason, video surfaced of a private Manning workout and by all accounts, his arm looked as lively and strong as it’s ever been.
“Talent-wise, I still think Eli is very productive,” wide receiver Golden Tate told NJ Advance Media in June. “I think he still has a very strong arm.
“He is a guy who has proven himself year-in and year-out. He shows up to work every day and finds a way. He has been doing it for a long, long time.”
How the Giants intend to use Manning in 2019 remains to be seen, but the presence of Tate — a shifty slot receiver who breaks a lot of tackles — would seem to indicate he’ll be more a game manager than the cut-it-loose quarterback he once was.
That notion will cause some to cringe, but it may work out in the Giants’ favor because of the presence of Tate, Sterling Shepard and Saquon Barkley. It would also allow Manning to pick and choose his shots downfield, where Evan Engram, Corey Coleman and others will hope to thrive.
Manning’s time is eventually going to come to an end, but for right now, he still gives the Giants the best chance to win and with a quality offensive line finally in front of him, perhaps Eli can turn back the clock a bit.
Daniel Jones
The Giants have officially chosen and their future has arrived.
With the sixth overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, Giants general manager Dave Gettleman called the name of Duke quarterback Daniel Jones — a decision that was met with relentless ire and criticism.
From moment one, the Giants were mocked from their selection of Jones and that continued right up until the moment he first took the practice field. Then things changed.
Almost immediately, Jones began to shred the narrative that he was a dull, weak-armed quarterback with no accuracy by displaying an impressively strong arm and accuracy that wide receiver Russell Shepard likened to a non-handoff handoff.
“Daniel just got here and you can tell he’s going to be a good one,” Shepard said. “He kind of hands [the ball] to you without handing it to you. He’s a very talented passer. Very reserved, very confident guy.
“Just the way he throws the football, he can spin it. He’s a very talented passer.”
Through it all, the criticism of Jones continued as he was loudly booed by Giants fans at Yankee Stadium and then given the lowest quarterback rating of any rookie in Madden NFL 20 courtesy of EA.
To Jones’ credit, he’s shrugged it all off, kept his head down and continued working. In fact, he picked up the team’s offensive playbook so quickly that he left some of his veteran teammates speechless.
“I’ve found that once you write it down a lot, you draw it, you see it, and then you can kind of take that into your head because on the field you don’t have a piece of paper,” Jones said of his ability to learn quickly. “So you’re going to have to visualize it in your head, and that just kind of helps you organize the play call and then see it on the field. That all takes place in the meeting room, and obviously watching film is a huge component of that and seeing it in a moving picture. But in the notebook, I’ve found that just writing it down and seeing it on the paper is a good way to kind of get a lot of reps and do it over and over and over again.”
Meanwhile, a few experts decided to form their own opinion and went back to watch some of Jones’ film at Duke and, well. . . Let them tell it.
“Look, people want to question whether he was worth the sixth pick in the draft or not. I’m just going to tell you, when he played at Duke, he did not play with NFL-caliber player,” Baldinger said.
“This guy is a good athlete. . . . I think he’s one of the greatest athletes to ever play quarterback for the Giants. You might have to go back to Y.A. Tittle to find a guy who can move like that.”
Speaking to others behind the scenes, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen also quickly discovered that doubters were becoming believers.
“What’s interesting to me is that even the skeptics about taking Daniel Jones at No. 6 overall are now, after watching him, saying he’s the real deal,” Mortensen said, via ESPN’s ‘Get Up’ TV program. “Jones has been so good this offseason, but go back to that Dave Gettleman line where we heard — kind of like that Kansas City model. I think they believe they’re going to be a run-oriented team and their offensive line is going to be much improved.
“Jones — with all the experience he had at Duke — and we forget that compared to Dwayne Haskins and Kyler Murray — a lot of experience at Duke. He has shown very well this spring.”
Jones impressed this spring more than anyone not named Darius Slayton, but it’s not going to change his projection. While head coach Pat Shurmur left the door open for Jones in Week 1, the team will undoubtedly go into battle behind Eli Manning.
Should Manning struggle over the first quarter of the season or the Giants simply aren’t winning, only then may it be time for Jones to step in.
Alex Tanney
One of the Giants’ first orders of business to start the offseason was to re-sign backup quarterback Alex Tanney, which got done without a single hiccup early in March.
The seemingly rushed nature of the re-signing was enough to even surprise Tanney himself.
“I didn’t really know what was going to happen going into free agency,” said Tanney, via the New York Post. “My agent called me, I was thrilled to be back in this building. I’ve been in quite a few locker rooms over the last seven or eight years. I’m real excited about the vibe and the direction this team is headed.”
When the Giants drafted Daniel Jones, Tanney was not dismayed. He understands the direction of the team and, more impressively, he understands his role and embraces it.
“The role of a backup quarterback is being as prepared, if not more prepared, than the guy who’s playing, never knowing if you’re going to play,” Tanney told the Pantagraph. “I feel like I’ve gotten into good habits and a routine of studying and preparing and putting in the work like I’m going to play. You always have to be ready.”
Tanney may be an afterthought to most, but he played a key role for the Giants in 2018 and may be even more important to the team here in 2019 with the presence of Jones.
The likelihood Tanney ever sees the field during the regular season is slim-to-none, but his locker-room leadership and high football IQ are invaluable to a team grooming a rookie quarterback who is projected to be their future.
Moreover, Tanney wants to be here and has a genuine belief that the Giants are headed in the right direction.
“I feel like we have a great room,” Tanney said. “Obviously, Eli has so much knowledge and experience and has had so much success. Daniel has been a great addition to the room. I think we do a good job of competing and pushing each other to help our team win.
“I’m excited for what we have going on in the building here [with the Giants].”
Tanney won’t be in any sort of competition with Manning or Jones in training camp, even if he starts or finishes at QB2, but the same can not be said for fellow backup Kyle Lauletta… That’s where Tanney will have to earn his roster spot.
Kyle Lauletta
The Giants selected Lauletta in the fourth-round of the 2018 NFL Draft and some hyped up the possibility that he could eventually be Manning’s heir.
That is obviously not going to happen.
“In this league there are always going to be guys behind you, and guys are always going to be competing for jobs,” Lauletta said, via NJ Advance Media. “We just bring another piece into it. Another great quarterback in the room. We’ll grow together, and do the best we can to compete and put a winning team out on the field.”
Coming off of knee surgery, Lauletta was unable to do much this spring other than watch his competition, Daniel Jones, light up the field — something Lauletta acknowledged caused some frustration.
“It’s been frustrating getting it back and feeling like I’m good to go, then slowing it back down and going through the rehab process,” Lauletta said. “Everything is good now. Everything feels great.
“All I can do right now is control me and get my knee back and work hard. I know the player I can be. I’ve just got to get to work and reach my full potential, and when I get an opportunity on the field, show them what I can do.”
In order to soften the blow of Jones’ arrival, the Giants simply told Lauletta to go out and focus on doing his job, allowing everything else to fall into place.
“After the draft they just told me, ‘Don’t worry about that … just do your job,'” Lauletta said, via the New York Post. “The minute I start worrying about another guy, it’s just wasted energy for me. Look at last year, I got drafted and Davis Webb did the year previous. We’re all professionals, we’re all trying to play. I’m going to continue to be a pro and do everything I can to impress the coaches and play well on the field. I’ll just wait for my next shot.”
Lauletta will likely get his next shot during training camp, at which point he’ll need to catch up to the other quarterbacks and work on beating out veteran Alex Tanney first and foremost.
“I’m competitive as hell. If I want to start in the NFL someday, I still have to be better,” Lauletta told the Philly Voice in April.
Lauletta appeared in two games for the Giants a season ago, failing to connect on any of his five pass attempts while also tossing an interception. At one point, he was also used as a wide receiver.
Fair or not, Lauletta may be the odd man out unless the Giants opt to carry four quarterbacks, but he’ll be afforded the opportunity to carve his own path before any of those decisions are made.
