Daniel Jones hasn’t given much thought to Giants future
The New York Giants declined to pick up quarterback Daniel Jones’ fifth-year option earlier this year, meaning the 2019 first-round pick enters the regular season as a lame duck.
But general manager Joe Schoen has cautioned against reading too much into that. Financially, the decision made sense but does not preclude Jones from returning in 2023 and beyond. His future will ultimately be determined by how he plays this season.
And that’s where Jones’ focus remains.
“I don’t know,” Jones told the New York Post when asked where he’ll be in 2023. “I haven’t put a whole lot of time into it. I’m focused on what I’m doing now, and, hopefully, the plan is to have a lot of success and have a great season and win a lot of games.”
Jones admits that things do creep into his head from time to time, but he recognizes that the future can be controlled, in part, by the present. And that’s why he’s determined to not let it distract him.
“It’s something you probably think about from time to time, in the back of your mind, but, yeah, you try not to,” Jones said. “I don’t think that helps you play better.”
For some, the pressure would be motivating. But Jones doesn’t believe he needs any additional motivation. His entire life revolves around the game of football and he simply wants to be better for himself and for the Giants.
“I think I have plenty of motivation,” Jones said. “I feel I work hard, I’ve worked hard before, and I’ve always worked hard for myself and worked hard for my teammates. I don’t think that changes, really. It is what it is, and I’ll keep doing what I’ve been doing and improve and refine my process.
“I think I put in a whole lot of effort and time. It is my life. Everything revolves around football and my job. That’s how I make decisions. I don’t know how that can change or if I could work harder. I think there’s ways I could work smarter, you learn that. Maybe you work in a different way, you put it in a different bucket.”
The downside is that when your life revolves around football and you find little success, it carries a heavy weight. More than his future, that’s what Jones struggles with.
“Just the lack of success? Um, yeah, it weighs on me a great deal,” he said. “When you put a lot of time and effort into something and you don’t see the results, I think that’s tough when you’re doing anything. Playing football in the NFL, playing football in New York, I think there’s a heavy weight to that. I and the whole team feel that and we’re working as hard as we can to avoid being in this situation in the future. Yeah, it weighs on me heavy.”
While Jones doesn’t let his contract situation swim around in his brain too much, he does occasionally day dream about what winning a Super Bowl in New York would be like.
“It would be fun,” he thinks, and that remains the ultimate goal.
List
List of Giants players heading into the final year of their contracts in 2022
