Watching Daniel Jones receive a curtain call at MetLife Stadium in the Giants’ regular-season home finale, David Cutcliffe had to get out of his seat. He paced around his house, he was so hyped up.
In that moment, Jones’ college coach at Duke wished he could hug the quarterback’s parents, knowing how proud they surely were of their son. He knows it’s been a long four years for Jones in New York, his career as a Giant starting off by being booed during a 2019 NFL Draft party inside MetLife Stadium after his selection was announced. In four years, he’s had nearly as many coaches (three), dealt with a litany of injuries and had to step into the shadow of two-time Super Bowl winner Eli Manning. So the cascade of cheers for Jones after he helped clinch the Giants’ first playoff appearance since 2016 felt poetic — and a long time coming.
Jones, who has for his entire NFL career shown an unwavering business-like approach to the media, didn’t elaborate much on the emotions of the ovation besides thanking fans and saying, “It beats the alternative, for sure.”
Daniel Jones 🙂
That's the tweet pic.twitter.com/miKbBC1PmW
— New York Giants (@Giants) January 1, 2023
But those who’ve known him for a while could see the cues others might have missed.
“You could see in his eyes, not just the face, but in his eyes, it was a good moment,” said Cutcliffe, now a special assistant to the SEC commissioner for football relations.
But for as long as it took to receive the hard-earned acclaim, Jones didn’t bask in the moment for long.
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“He moved past that, I think, pretty quickly,” Cutcliffe said.
For what anyone might want to say about his performance as a quarterback in the NFL, Jones has remained almost totally unflappable these past four years — unfazed, at least in public, by both compliments and criticism.
While fans and critics alike have had plenty to say, his steely disposition and calm, collected demeanor have served him well with those who matter most to him: his coaches and teammates. Jones has carried himself in the same manner since he was younger, all the while continuing to put in the work required to be successful along the way.
Combined with a new coaching staff that has helped accentuate his strengths as both a passer and a runner, his all-business attitude has resulted in sustained success for the first time in his professional career. Jones is the quarterback of a playoff team that seems eager to bring him back next season — and possibly beyond.
Cutcliffe, who once coached Eli Manning at Ole Miss, sees qualities in Jones that Manning possessed that he believes are imperative to playing quarterback in the New York market.
“You have to be built for that, and I think Daniel is built well for New York,” Cutcliffe said. “He’s not ever gonna get full of himself. If you don’t get full of yourself, you can’t be chopped down. He’s a pretty level-headed young man.”
Jones’ high school, Charlotte Latin, had just gone down a touchdown in the third quarter of his senior-year North Carolina state championship game when teammate Melvin Rouse returned a kick 75 yards. Rouse trotted off the field to the sideline for a quick sip of water and by the time Rouse looked back on the field, Jones was scrambling.
“He throws off his back foot fading away,” Rouse said. “The wide receiver on the left side just ran basically like a straight crossing route to the back pylon of the end zone on our right side. And Daniel just throws a dart in the back in the end zone and ties the game. Everybody’s just like, ‘This kid is amazing, right? I can’t believe he just flipped the (game) that fast.’ … His ability to answer every time it would seem like we were knocked out, it was amazing.”
Despite the bounce-back play, Charlotte Latin lost a heartbreaker in overtime.
“That was a tough loss,” former high school coach Larry McNulty previously told The Athletic’s Dan Duggan. “And the next day he was on the court practicing basketball. He can do that. If he throws a bad pass in the game on Sunday and things don’t go well, he’s not going to put his head down and pout and put his head in his hands. He’ll be back.”
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The next football program Jones found himself a part of was at Duke. Cutcliffe was blown away by the tape sent by Jones’ high school coach, and he convinced Jones and his family to choose the Blue Devils even without a scholarship immediately available. While he redshirted his first season, it didn’t take long for Jones to impress.
Cutcliffe distinctly remembers when he challenged his quarterback in the early years of his collegiate career. The coach said he got a bit ugly with Jones during a heated game, and Jones bit back.
“He didn’t see me do it, but I turned around and grinned,” Cutcliffe said. “I kind of questioned his toughness, and he didn’t like it. I’ll never forget that moment, and I knew right then, ‘OK he’s the real deal.’”
The Giants previous regime thought so, too, selecting him as Manning’s heir in 2019. He ascended to starter sooner than anticipated and despite ups and downs in performance, navigated New York’s near-constant coaching and front-office turnover without complaint.
Still, some outside of the organization believed Jones’ days in New York might be numbered. A new general manager and a new coach were coming, and Jones wasn’t one of theirs. That belief was backed by some evidence when GM Joe Schoen and coach Brian Daboll elected not to pick up the fifth-year option on Jones’ rookie deal, thrusting the quarterback into a make-or-break fourth season.
Jones didn’t blink, and despite what it may have looked like from the outside, the Giants seemed to want to give Jones a fair shake.
When Daboll accepted the Giants job, the first-time NFL head coach called Cutcliffe. Daboll wanted to know more about who Jones was, what he likes and what he does well. The coaches went through a list, with Cutcliffe highlighting Jones’ habits. While Cutcliffe didn’t know Daboll before, he was impressed with what he heard on the other end of the phone — and later by what Daboll and his staff could do after watching Jones play.
With the regular season complete, it’s fair to say Jones just finished off the best season of his career. For one, he played in every game save for the finale, when Daboll elected to hold out starters.
For another, he’s protected the ball better. Way better. After combining for 36 fumbles and 29 interceptions in his first three seasons, Jones fumbled a career-low six times this season — despite compiling career highs in both attempts (472) and rushes (120) — while throwing just five interceptions. Jones’ interception rate was a league-best 1.1 percent.
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Jones also turned into a playmaker, weaponizing his athleticism to both extend plays and hurt defenses with his rushing ability. Jones tallied a career-high 708 rushing yards this season and has been much-improved in his decision-making.
“(Daboll’s) investment in Daniel has shown in the film,” Cutcliffe said. “As I look at it, there’s no question the two of them seem to be on the same page.”
Before Jones received his ovation in the Giants’ win over the Colts in Week 17, the Giants had nearly clinched a playoff spot the week before against the Vikings. Despite numerous team errors, including Jones’ lone interception in the past six starts, the Giants hung around long enough for Jones to mount a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive — in 59 seconds no less — during the final minutes of the game that featured the best of his Year 4 improvements. It included a 32-yard completion, a wise decision to scramble on a long third down and a perfectly timed and targeted pass on the game-tying two-point conversion.
YEAHHHH BELLINGER!!!!!
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/scivM8A4XZ
— New York Giants (@Giants) December 24, 2022
Unfortunately for the Giants, they left too much time on the clock, and Minnesota kicker Greg Joseph drilled a game-winning 61-yard field goal as time expired.
Cutcliffe was impressed with Jones’ final drive but also how he carried himself after the winning kick.
“He was unfazed,” Cutcliffe said. “You could tell he was ready to move forward. And that takes maturity. The National Football League is hard. It changes from one quarter to the next, changes from one half to the next, changes from one game to the next. You have to be a mentally tough person. And I think what I’ve watched in Daniel, when it hadn’t gone well, when it’s gone well, I don’t see a huge reaction, I just see him going back to work.”
Going back to the grind is what Jones does. He never lets his emotions get the best of him. Well, almost never. Calm in the pocket and on the sideline, Jones has rarely had any on-field outbursts. He was caught once this season showing frustration after a dropped ball but apologized for the display shortly after the game.
"I wish I could have that situation back"
Daniel Jones apologizes for showing frustration on the sidelines: pic.twitter.com/SssdFBfprp
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) October 24, 2022
A product of learning from coaches and trainers who worked with Manning and having played a season alongside the two-time Super Bowl champion, it’s not a crazy leap of thought to wonder how much Manning’s own serious public persona has influenced Jones’ approach to being a quarterback in New York.
Also like the retired Manning, Jones’ fortitude has been one of the most respected parts of his game.
Bloody hand for Daniel Jones on the sideline#notfake #spooky pic.twitter.com/nzr3gTjN79
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 30, 2022
“He’s going to do anything to win,” is a quote from Rouse, but it might as well have been said by one of Jones’ current NFL teammates:
“He’s a bad man,” offensive lineman Nick Gates said recently. “I’d take a bullet for that man.”
“You guys don’t see it, but I get here pretty early, and every single time I get here early, there’s a car that is going to be here before me, and it’s Daniel Jones,” running back Saquon Barkley said. “He’s the first one in and last one to leave. He really lives that mentality. … When you have that guy at the quarterback position, you believe you can win any game.”
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“He works after it,” quarterback Tyrod Taylor said. “He wants to chase perfection.”
Seemingly all of Jones’ Giants teammates and coaches are thrilled that the work he’s put in has translated into so much success for both him and the team. But if there’s one person who is not surprised by the Giants’ success this season, it’s the quarterback himself.
“I think I was always confident this would happen, and we would have this chance, largely because of the guys we have in the locker room, the type of guys they are and how close we are as a group,” Jones said. “We had some tough years, but I think we learned a lot. That’s helped us get to where we are now.”
No matter what happens in Jones’ first NFL playoff appearance Sunday in Minnesota or even in the contract negotiations with the Giants to follow, his past has shown us that his future is clear. He’ll do what he’s always done. Good or bad, he’ll move forward and get back to work.
(Top photo: Stephen Maturen / Getty Images)
