After having a breakout season in 2022, the New York Giants awarded quarterback Daniel Jones with a new contract.
On Tuesday, the Giants announced they had signed Jones to a four-year contract.
According to ESPN’s Jordan Raanan, the deal is worth $160 million, with $82 million guaranteed at signing. In addition, there is another $35 million available in incentives.
Jones, 25, was scheduled to become a free agent if the two sides did not reach an agreement by Tuesday’s 4 p.m. deadline. The Giants could have placed the franchise tag on Jones if a deal was not completed.
“I said after the season I love this place,” Jones said via a statement from the team. “I’ve really enjoyed my time here, and I want to be here. I have great respect for this organization, the Maras, the Tisches, my coaches, and teammates. I am happy we were able to come to an agreement.”
The long-term contract allows the Giants to reduce Jones’ cap number in this and subsequent seasons, and Giants GM Joe Schoen is happy that the deal is done.
“We had productive conversations with Daniel and his representatives over the course of the past week or so,” Schoen said. “We are all pleased that we were able to come to an agreement prior to today’s deadline. This gives us a greater ability to continue to build our roster.”
Last season, Jones led the Giants to the playoffs for the first time since 2006, and the team got their first playoff win since 2011.
In his fourth season with the Giants, the sixth overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft started a career-high 16 regular-season games.
He completed a Giants-record 67.2% of his passes, finished with 3,205 passing yards and a 92.5 passer rating, both career highs, and led the NFL and set a franchise record by throwing an interception on just 1.1% of his passes (five in 472 throws).
In addition, Jones was second on the team with 708 rushing yards and seven touchdowns, both records for a Giants quarterback. He became the fourth quarterback in NFL history with at least 3,200 passing yards, a 65+ completion percentage, and 700 or more rushing yards in a season.
Barkley gets the tag:
In addition to re-signing Jones, the Giants announced on Monday that they had placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on running back Saquon Barkley.
The two sides have until July 17th to hammer out a long-term deal. If they don’t, Barkley’s salary will be $10 million next season.
Barkley, 26, can look elsewhere, but the Giants can match any offer or let him sign with a another team. If that happens, they will receive two first-round picks.
Last season, Barkley finished with career-high totals of 295 carries for 1,312 yards – the NFL’s fourth-highest total – and scored 10 touchdowns, one less than his rookie total. In addition, the fifth-year back caught 57 passes for 338 yards after he had 41 receptions for 263 yards the previous season. He finished seventh in the NFL with 1,650 scrimmage yards.
On Monday, Giants GM Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll met the media to put a bow on the team’s successful 2022 season.
This season, New York, who made the playoffs for the first time since 2016 and won a playoff game for the first time since 2011, looks like a team that could be on the rise.
Obviously, the Giants have some questions that they have to answer.
Daniel Jones:
Daniel Jones played well this season and made some strides. In 2022, Jones had a career-high in yards(3,205), rushing yards(708), and rushing touchdowns(7), and he protected the football(five interceptions), but he’s an unrestricted free agent who will definitely get a raise.
Schoen was asked a series of questions by the media related to Jones:
Q: Do you plan on re-signing (quarterback) Daniel (Jones)?
Schoen: “We’d like Daniel to be here. Again, he said it yesterday – there’s a business side to it. We feel like Daniel played well this season. He’s done everything that we’ve asked him to do. Again, there’s a business side to it. We haven’t went down that road yet. We still have to have our meetings with our staff late in the week, and we’ll devise an offseason plan. We haven’t had those meetings yet, but we would like to have Daniel Jones back.”
Q: Having said that, when did you know? You and Dabs came in and had to do your due diligence and see what you had in Daniel (Jones) and everybody else. When did you make the decision, both of you guys, ‘This guy is our guy to move forward with,’?
Schoen: “I don’t know if there was necessarily an ‘Aha’ moment or anything like that. We just continued to evaluate him throughout the season and what the coaches were asking him to do. And he was executing the game plans. Dabs and I communicate on a daily basis – not just Dabs and I, but the offensive staff and what they’re asking him to do. He continued to improve throughout the season. I don’t know the exact date or time when we’re like, ‘Daniel is our guy,’ but we’re pleased with how he played this season.”
Q: When you say you want Daniel (Jones) back, ideally would you like that to be a long-term deal or a multi-year deal?
Schoen: “We’re going to get into all that. Again, it takes two. Both sides have got to have those conversations. We haven’t crossed that bridge yet. There’s tools at our disposal. Again, we’ll go through several scenarios. It’s kind of like I mentioned it last year, maybe it was at the combine, with the ‘if, then’ scenarios. You got to go through all those because you don’t know how things are going to fall because it’s negotiating. This is why you love the draft – you turn in the card, and they’re yours. You know what the contract structure is; you know the years. This is where there’s two parties involved, and it’s going to be time consuming. We’ll get together as a staff. We’ll talk through the different options and have those discussions when it’s appropriate.”
Q: Do you view Daniel (Jones) as a quarterback who can help you win a Super Bowl?
Schoen: We’re happy Daniel’s going to be here. We’re happy he’s going to be here. Hopefully we can get something done with his representatives. And that would be the goal – to build a team around him where he can lead us and win a Super Bowl.
Saquon Barkley:
In addition, Giants running back Saquon Barkley can also be an unrestricted free agent. After two consecutive injury-riddled seasons, Barkley broke out in 2022 as he rushed for a career-high 1312 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Schoen was also asked a series of questions by the media related to Barkley:
Q: Obviously you need a new contract with (running back) Saquon (Barkley). Is that somebody, also, you also would like to keep, and is the franchise tag a possibility?
Schoen: “Again, this is a special team to me. It was my first year. We’d like to have all the guys back, I really would. But there’s a business side to it. There’s rules that you need to operate under in terms of the salary cap. Saquon, he’s a good player. He’s a great teammate. I loved getting to know him this season. He’s a guy we would like to have back. It’s just, again, we haven’t had our end-of-season meetings yet. We’re less than 48 hours after that game. Everybody is going to step back, take the emotion out of it, evaluate the roster and then we’ve got to operate under the salary cap. How are you going to divvy up? How are we going to create the roster? What are the priority positions, and how are we going to move forward? We would like to have Saquon back if it works out.”
Q: With Saquon (Barkley), how do you view running back positional value versus he’s also, other than Daniel (Jones), your best playmaker?
Schoen: “Listen, Saquon has done everything we’ve asked him to do, and he’s a good football player. Again, the positional value – we’ll get into how we want to build this team and allocate our resources. That’s what it comes down to. Again, he’s a good football player. He was durable for us this year; he played well. And again, he’s a guy that we would like to have back.”
Q: On Saquon (Barkley), when you try to determine his financial value – how much do you factor in character and contribution to culture as opposed to talent when it comes to that evaluation?
Schoen: “If that wasn’t important, we probably wouldn’t be approaching him. So, that’s kind of a starter for us – if you’re a good teammate, you’re a culture fit for how we want to do things. That’s where we go to those players. We don’t factor in – when you’re making comps (comparisons), it’s hard to put a value on that. It’s important, but you can look at how many yards, touchdowns, Pro Bowls, games played, games missed. Those are more markers that we can establish value on. We wouldn’t approach him or look to sign a guy if they didn’t fit our culture if we didn’t think so.”
Q: How close were you with him (Saquon Barkley in bye week conversations)? How close were you with him, and did you consider yourself close when you had that conversation?
Schoen: “We had productive conversations. We were off on the value. Again, we said we would circle back up at the end of the season and continue those conversations, but that time of year, we weren’t really that close I would think.”
Reports are leaning toward the Giants bringing back Jones and Barkley. It’s just a matter of how they are going to do it. Not completely sold on Jones being the guy, but if New York can finally build a complete roster around him, then maybe you can win with him. He’s proven that he can win, but can you win big with Jones? Time will be the judge.
The season did not end the way the New York Giants wanted it to, but when they look back on it, they will realize it was a success.
New York’s season ended in Philadelphia on Saturday night as they fell to the Eagles 38-7 in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
The Giants, who lost three times to Philadelphia this season, allowed the Eagles to score four touchdowns on their first five drives and trailed 28-0 at halftime. New York was dominated from start to finish.
“Well, crash landing here,” Daboll said after the loss. “Give Philly credit. They did everything better than we did today—tough game. We really got beat in all facets, so it wasn’t one thing in particular. It was a team game, and we just didn’t get it done. Congratulations to Philly. They get to move on, and unfortunately, we don’t.”
After five straight 10-loss seasons, New York was 9-7-1 this year, made the playoffs for the first time since 2016, and got their playoff win since 2011.
Despite the blowout loss, Daboll wanted his team to keep their heads up.
“I told them to keep their heads up,” he said. “They competed hard. It’s a crash landing in the playoffs. Anytime you lose, it hurts because of the amount of effort and energy you put into it each week. And when you lose this time of year, it hurts even more. You work extremely hard to get to this point. You’re blessed to get to this point. It’s hard to do.”
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, who can be an unrestricted free agent, showed much improvement this season. He became a better player, and he hopes to continue to grow moving forward.
“I don’t know what I proved,” he said. “I think I improved every week. I thought I was consistent throughout the year. There are certainly things I like to have back, especially tonight. I think there are some things I’ll go back and look to clean up and improve and grow as a player going forward. I thought, overall, I did do that. I grew and improved throughout the year, and I will continue to try and do that.”
Saquon Barkley, who also can be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, said the 2022 Giants is a team he won’t forget.
“It sucks, this was a fun team,” he said. “The guys here, coaches, everything that we were able to build this year. The way we played for each other this year, it was special. Obviously, it didn’t end the way we would have wanted it to end. Not just because of the record or because we made it to playoffs, this is probably one of my favorite teams of all time. That’s a sad thing about the NFL; no matter what, the locker room is not going to be the exact same next year. So just happy to be able to go out there with these guys and lay it all out on the line and compete with them.”
The Giants’ season was a success the moment they beat the Colts and clinched a playoff spot; they should hold their heads high. The future seems bright in New York.
For the first time since 2016, the New York Giants were in the playoffs, and for the first time since 2011, the New York Giants got a playoff win as they defeated the Vikings 31-24 in the Wild Card round of the playoffs on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium.
With the win, the Giants advance to a divisional round game at Philadelphia next Saturday night.
New York lost to the Vikings on Christmas Eve in Minnesota when kicker Greg Joseph hit a 61-yard field goal at the buzzer, but this game was a different story because of the play of Giants quarterback Daniel Jones.
In his playoff debut, Jones was outstanding. He completed 24 of 35 passes for 301 yards and two touchdowns. In addition, he ran for 78 yards(team record for a quarterback in the postseason) on 17 carries. He is the fifth quarterback in the Super Bowl era with 200-plus pass yards, two-plus touchdown passes and 70-plus rushing yards in a playoff game.
After the win, Saquon Barkley, who ran for 53 yards and two touchdowns, including a 28-yard scamper in the first quarter and the game-winning two-yard touchdown run in the fourth, was impressed by Jones.
“I would say I’m impressed,” Barkley said about Jones. “I’m not shocked. He’s been doing it all year. He’s really a special player. You know what a way to start it off. I’m happy for him and proud of him, and we’re going to need him and keep leaning on him.”
Giants head coach Brian Daboll was proud of Jones.
“Daniel, I’ve said it all year; he’s been good for us,” Daboll said. “Continues to be good for us. He played a good game. I think there was a lot of other people that played good games to help him play a good game, and he’ll be the first to admit it. But as a leader on our football team, I’m proud of him.”
Barkley believes the Giants have an elite quarterback.
“I know we have an elite quarterback,” Barkley said. “I think he’s shown that most of the time. But we’ve also got amazing players around, too, so we”ve got his back no matter what.”
The fourth-year quarterback is happy with the win but knows more work needs to be done.
“I think it’s a big win for us,” he said. “Obviously, a big playoff game. I thought we played well in all three phases and did enough to win the game. We’ll enjoy it tonight, but we have a lot of work to do moving forward.”
The Giants were swept by the Eagles this season, including a 48-22 beatdown at MetLife Stadium; Jones is excited to get another crack at Philadelphia.
“We’re excited,” he said. “They’re a good team. A divisional opponent. We’ll prepare this week like we do any week and be as prepared as we can going in.”
The Giants continue to play with house money. No one expected them to win a playoff game when the season started. However, many believed the Vikings were a beatable team in this spot, and New York took advantage of it.
Back to Jones, he was exceptional against Minnesota, but Philly will be a bigger test, and we will see if Jones and the Giants can pass it.
Notes:
-This was the Giants’ first victory this season against a team in the NFC playoff field; they had been 0-6 vs. Dallas, Philadelphia, Seattle and Minnesota.
-The Giants totaled 431 offense yards, a figure they exceeded just twice in the regular season – 445 against the Vikings here on Dec. 24 and 436 yards at Jacksonville on Oct. 23.
-The Giants’ 31 points are their second-highest total of the season and the second time they exceeded 30 points
For the first three years of his career, the Wednesday after the end of the regular season has been when Giants quarterback Daniel Jones would be prepping for the offseason, but things are a little different for Jones this time.
Jones will get his first playoff start on Sunday when the Giants travel to Minnesota to battle the Vikings in the Wild Card Round of the NFC Playoffs. The fourth-year quarterback is looking forward to the opportunity and is happy to be preparing for a playoff game.
“I think it means a lot to all of us – a lot of guys who have been here these past few years,” Jones said Wednesday about preparing for the playoffs. “And to be on the other side of it, it means a lot. It’s about what we do now, from this point on, and how we handle this opportunity, how we prepare, and ultimately how we play how we execute on Sunday. We’re certainly happy we are where we are. But there’s a lot more. We got to do a lot more work left for us.”
The 25-year-old Jones can be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, so a playoff win could earn him some more money in the offseason, and while he’s never been to the playoffs, Jones knows what’s at stake. It’s win or go home.
“I think everyone understands where we are now,” he said. “We’re in the playoffs. We’re past the regular season. The games mean more from the sense that you lose; you go home. So, people understand that. They understand what’s at stake. But the only way we’re going to play as well as we want to play is to prepare how we have all year, to trust our process, and stick to that. So, that’s largely been the conversation amongst the guys.”
The first three seasons for Jones were not pretty. He struggled with turnovers, and New York lost ten or more games in each of those seasons, but through all the struggles, Jones knew things would turn around for New York.
“I think I was always confident this would happen, and we would have this chance, largely because the guys we have in the locker room, the type of guys they are, and how close we are as a group,” he said. “We had some tough years, but I think we learned a lot. That’s helped us get to where we are now. I think (I’ve) just always been confident in the group, the type of guys that we have, and ultimately that that would lead to success.”
Not many people expected the Giants to make the playoffs, so to some, the season is a success, and New York should be satisfied to just to make the postseason, but like his teammates, Jones wants more.
“I think we’re definitely not satisfied just to have made the playoffs,” he said. “That’s not how we see it as a group. We were confident in our team dating back to training camp and knew what we were able to accomplish. We’re by no means satisfied just to be in the playoffs. We expect to play well and to win. And that’s our expectation every week; that doesn’t change this week.”
The Giants have defied the odds to this point, so maybe they will keep defying the odds this week and beyond.
For the first time since 2016, the New York Giants(9-6-1) are in the playoffs after they routed the Colts(4-11-1) 38-10 at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
With the win, Giants head coach Brian Daboll becomes the fifth coach in team history to lead the team to the playoffs in his debut season.
“I’m just happy we won this game,” Daboll said after the win. “Am I excited? Certainly, I’m excited. But I think you just got to stick with the process that got you here—got to get ready to play another game. You know, the playoffs are a different breed. They’re one and done. But we still got one more game before we get to those.”
Daniel Jones, who completed 19 of 24 passes for 177 yards and two touchdowns and led the Giants in rushing with 91 yards, including touchdown runs of 18 and 10 yards on Sunday, is excited to make the playoffs.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s just exciting,’ Jones said. “I think, like I said, we’ve been through some tough times, and to be on this side of it is a lot of fun. A lot of hard work has gone into it from a lot of different people, and like I said, I’m grateful for my teammates, grateful for this organization, and looking forward to a lot of work ahead.”
In the fourth, with New York in complete control, Jones, who led the Giants to a winning season for the first time in his four seasons with the team, was removed from the game and received a standing ovation from the fans, something he appreciated.
“I’m really appreciative, grateful,” he said. “Our fans have been tremendous all year. They supported us today; they came out and brought a lot of energy. The whole game we felt it and fed off it the whole game. Grateful, really appreciative of their support for me personally and for our team.”
Saquon Barkley rushed for 58 yards on Sunday and increased his season total to a career-high 1,312 yards, and like Jones, he is making the playoffs for the first time in his career.
According to Barkley, no one gave New York a chance to make the playoffs.
“Yeah, it’s real special,” Barkley said. “It’s a huge accomplishment. You’ve got to give credit to all the guys—from OTAs, coming in every single day with the right mindset, with the right work ethic. I’ve got to give credit to the coaches. And it’s a beautiful thing. I mean, no one, let’s be honest, no one besides the men and women in that facility gave us a chance to accomplish this, and we just stuck to the script, kept believing in each other, and gave ourselves the opportunity, and we did it.
“But at the end of the day, we’ve still got next week to get ready for, and you want to make it to the playoffs, but it’s not like when you’re making the playoffs, it’s not like you’ve won the Super Bowl. You give yourself a chance to compete for a Super Bowl, so it’s just another step ahead, and we’ve just got to keep working.”
At this point, the Giants’ season is a success. They have little to no shot of making the Super Bowl, but anything is possible. In the end, give credit to Daboll, Jones, and Barkley for helping to make the playoffs a reality in New York!
The Giants, who are locked into the sixth-seed, will play their final regular-season game next weekend against the NFC East-leading Eagles in Philadelphia.
For the New York Giants(7-5-), Sunday’s game against the Eagles(12-!) was an opportunity to see how they stack up against the team with the best record in football. After the Giants’ 48-22 loss to Philadelphia at MetLife Stadium, it’s clear New York has ways to go to compete with the top teams in the NFL
I mean, we got our a** whipped,” Giants running back Saquon Barkley said after the loss. “Point blank. But you can find beauty in everything. I really believe in that, and we’ve got to double down… So, we’ve got a big one next week. Obviously, everyone knows about that, and we’ve just got to come out ready to play.”
Giants head coach Brians Daboll added: “We got beat handily. It was 48 to whatever it was (22). They’re a good football team. Give them a lot of credit. Got to get back to work.”
New York was never in this contest and trailed 21-0 in the first half. Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, who threw 169 yards and a touchdown and ran for another, says New York is not where they want to be just yet.
“Philadelphia is a really good team, and we could see today we aren’t where we need to be yet,” he said. “At the same time, we did some things well we can build off of. We got to come back to work and come back ready to go. I think no one is losing confidence; no one is pointing fingers or anything like that. I think we’re just getting back ready to work and looking forward for this huge opportunity for us against Washington.”
If the season ended today, the Giants, who are 0-3-1 in their last four games, would make the playoffs. However, they have a big game on the road against the Commanders next Sunday night, and a win over Washington, who they played to a tie last week, puts the Giants in a better position to make the playoffs.
According to Barkley, the Giants must get better no matter who they play.
“We’ve got to do the little things better,” he said. “We’ve got to double down on every single thing that if we want to accomplish what we want to accomplish and all of our goals are still in front of us, we’ve just got to come out. It’s a big week. Every week’s a big week, and it’s getting deep in the season, and we’ve got to continue to get healthy, trust the system, trust each other, and the rest will play out how we want it if we do that.”
Look, the 2022 season has been a success for this team. No one expected New York to start the season 6-1 and be 7-2 after nine games, and probably not many had them 7-5-1 after 13 games, so they have exceeded expectations.
In reality, no one thought this team was as good as the Eagles, and many had this as a loss, but they can still make the playoffs. However, they have to start playing better, and that better start Sunday night against Washington if they want to make the playoffs.
The New York Giants and Washington Commanders battled for 70 minutes, and unfortunately for both teams, the game ended in a 20-20 tie at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
The Giants trailed 10-0 at the end of the first quarter but tied things up at 13 at the break. New York led for most of the second half; however, Washington wide receiver Jahan Dotson had a 28-yard game-tying touchdown reception late in the contest, which sent the game to OT.
New York had three possessions in overtime and got into Commanders’ territory twice, but they could not score points. Ultimately, Graham Gano’s 58-yard field goal would fall short at the buzzer.
Ironically, the last time the Giants ended a game with a tie was against Washington in 1997.
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, who threw for 200 yards and a touchdown and ran for 71 yards, was disappointed with the tie.
“I think we’re all pretty disappointed with the result,” Jones said. “Certainly not the one we were looking for. We’ll go back to work and clean up a lot of things. I think it’s safe to say we’re disappointed but looking forward to getting back to work and working on things we got to improve on.”
Saquon Barkley, who had 63 yards rushing and a touchdown, was equally disappointed.
“It sucks, obviously,” he said. “You go out there, you wanna compete, and you want to win. When you put your bodies on the line and come out with a tie, it doesn’t feel good for either team. Just have to treat it like a win or a loss. Just have to go back in and watch film and get ready for the next opponent and get back to it.”
Like Jones and Barkley, Commanders head coach Ron Rivera was disappointed in the final result.
“That was very hard; I wasn’t quite sure what to say,” Rivera said. “Kind of a disappointment in some respect; we had some opportunities. From my perspective, we had some chances that we missed on some things. That’s pretty much it.”
After being 7-2, the Giants are winless in their last three games and are 7-4-1 entering their home game next week against NFC-leading Eagles(11-1), who are playing some excellent football, so New York could easily go winless in four straight games. Washington heads into the bye week.
These two teams will play again two weeks from now in Washington. Both teams will have the opportunity to break the tie in that contest, but for now, the Giants and Commanders remain disappointed.
The New York Giants(7-3) played their worst game of the season on Sunday against the Detroit Lions(4-6), which cost them.
New York was thoroughly beaten by Detroit 31-18 at MetLife Stadium.
The Giants allowed a season-high 31 points, and the defense had neither a sack nor a takeaway for the second time this season.
Not only did the defense struggle, but the offense was not much better as New York turned the ball over three times, including two Daniel Jones interceptions. The three turnovers led to 14 points for the Lions. Jones, who had been protecting the ball this season, had a streak of 153 passes without an interception, which was the NFL’s longest active streak.
Jones completed 27 of 44 passes for 341 yards, all season highs, but he had to throw the ball maybe more than the team wanted him to because of New York’s inability to run the ball. Running back Saquon Barkley came into this game leading the league in rushing, but on Sunday, he was held to 22 yards on 15 carries.
“They did a good job up front,’ Giants head coach Brian Daboll said after the loss. “They won up front. (They) made tackles in space. You know, bottled up the run game pretty good. That’s obviously a big part of what we do. We had some plays. We executed in the red zone some; third down probably wasn’t good enough – five of 13. (Quarterback) Daniel (Jones) threw for a lot of yards, but that doesn’t really matter relative to (the fact that) we had two interceptions there. What was it, 17 points off of turnovers? If you have three turnovers and the other team has zero, you’re probably going to lose every game.”
Barkley added: “If you’re not running the ball well, you’re going to pass the ball. I guess that’s just the answer there. If the run game is not going, you’re kind of tied with one hand behind your back; you’ve got to pass the ball, so that’s why it’s important for myself to get this run game back on track and the best way to do that is moving on and getting ready for Thursday.”
Fortunately for New York, they get back at it on Thanksgiving(Thursday) when they travel to Dallas to face the Cowboys, and Jones hopes to get back to winning against Dallas.
“I think we’re all already anxious to get this taste out of our mouths and come back and play a much better football game,” he said.
Despite the bad loss to the Lions, Barkley is not going to panic.
“I mean, at the end of the day, it’s the NFL; every team is a great team,” he said. “They came out here; they played great. We’re not going to panic. We’re not going to worry. We’re not going to waver at all. That’s for you guys to go out there and say what you want to say about us. At the end of the day, the only focus we have is the men and women in the locker room and the facility.”
New York came out of this game banged up as several Giants left the game with injuries, including wide receiver Wan’dale Robinson (knee), and starting cornerbacks Adoree’ Jackson (knee), and Fabian Moreau (ribs). With a short week, that could be a problem.
Furthermore, the next four games(Commanders twice), all against NFC East opponents, may tell us a lot about the Giants. Philly is 9-1, Dallas(7-3) just routed the Vikings, and the Commanders have won five of their last six, so it won’t be easy for New York to get right.
Who is ‘Vanilla Vick’ well, apparently, it’s New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, who has been “Vanilla Vick’ all season long for New York.
Jones, who was mic’d up last week in the Giants’ win over the Texans, was given the nickname by his teammate Saquon Barkley.
On Thursday, Barkley explained the origin of ‘Vanilla Vick.’
“I can’t even take credit for that,” Barkley said. “I saw it on social media so long ago. I forgot he was mic’d up. But that’s where it kind of came from. I can’t take credit for it. I saw it on Twitter or something like that.”
Jones is not a runner like Michael Vick, but he’s not bad. In fact, Jones is fourth among quarterbacks in rushing yards(387) this season; he also has three touchdowns on the ground. Jones has always been effective running the ball, including a career-long 80-yard run in 2020 against the Eagles.
The Giants and Barkley hope Jones can keep up his ‘Vanilla Vick’ ways against the Lions on Sunday.
Watch below as Barkley talks’ Vanilla Vick’ and more: