NFL insider sounds alarms about Giants' Daniel Jones

As of Tuesday afternoon, there was no indication that New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll was considering giving backup quarterback Drew Lock first-team practice reps despite starter Daniel Jones's ongoing training camp struggles.

For a piece published Tuesday afternoon, NFL insider Connor Hughes of SNY suggested Daboll may need to change things up when the Giants resume practices on Thursday.

"The quarterback has time," Hughes said about Jones missing targets this summer. "The quarterback has receivers open. He’s not making the plays. The offense is struggling because of Jones, not in spite of him. That’s what’s alarming."

Hughes acknowledged that Jones is still shaking understandable rust off after the 27-year-old missed time last fall due to his second neck injury in three years before he went down with a torn ACL on Nov. 5. Jones didn’t participate in team drills this spring as he worked to recover from the knee-related setback and, per Hughes, has "consistently been underthrowing players this summer" while trying to get back to full fitness.

"You don’t want to overreact," Hughes added. "Again: There is still something to Jones working his way back from knee surgery. The underthrows could be from him not totally trusting his knee in his throwing base. He might be processing a touch slower because the last time he worked team drills was before he injured himself in Las Vegas."

Hughes also noted that Lock "hasn’t fared much better with the second unit" during the first week of training camp. The Giants signed Lock this past March as a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option. Jones, meanwhile, is heading into a make-or-break campaign while on a contract the Giants can escape next offseason as long as he doesn't suffer another serious injury between now and Week 18.

The Giants have joint practices with the Detroit Lions scheduled for next Monday and Tuesday ahead of Big Blue's preseason opener versus the Lions on Aug. 8. It remains to be seen if Lock can perform well enough from Thursday through that exhibition game to spark a legitimate quarterback controversy that, theoretically, could run through the Giants' preseason finale against the New York Jets on Aug. 24.