Goff was the first-overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft before Rams head coach Sean McVay surrendered him in the blockbuster 2021 trade for Matthew Stafford. Motown was gripped with buyers remorse when Stafford led the Rams to their Super Bowl LVI championship over the Bengals, while Goff started slowly in Detroit.
“I feel like he has to step up more than he has,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said early in the 2021 season. “He needs to help us.”
Daniel Jones throws a pass during Giants practice on Aug. 2, 2024. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
Then came last season. Ford Field chanted Goff’s name as he beat the Rams for the Lions’ first playoff win in 32 years and led them to the NFC Championship game. He was flabbergasted hearing his name chanted at a Red Wings game. His last two years: 59 touchdowns, 19 interceptions.
“It means a whole lot to this city,” Goff would say.
He endured a nightmare 2023 season behind a nightmare offensive line with a neck and a knee that betrayed him and wouldn’t let him start more than six games.
It would have been organizational negligence, given Jones’ troubling injury resume, sobering play (2 TDs, 6 INTs) and unpredictable progress from his grueling torn ACL rehab, had the Giants not implemented a contingency plan.
And the steepest hill of all to climb: remind the franchise that you can deliver a Super Bowl.
John Mara believed that Daniel Jones was That Guy two years ago and wants so badly to believe it again.
Jones, with no guaranteed money in 2025, has no excuses. Malik Nabers is his first true No. 1 receiver. The offensive line has been upgraded. Daboll is now the play caller .
He can no longer use Barkley, gone to Philadelphia , as a crutch. Games will be in his hands. He must get the ball out of his hands and make the right decisions and throw with accuracy. He cannot afford the fumbles and interceptions that have been a bugaboo for him.
Daniel Jones throws a pass during Giants practice on Aug. 4, 2024. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
“I believe in Daniel with everything I got,” Wan’Dale Robinson told The Post. “At the end of the day, it’s everybody else’s opinion on whether they want to believe in him or not, but I have all the confidence in that man and the way he works. I feel like he’s the right quarterback for us.”
He was Danny Dimes in 2022, after the Giants declined his fifth-year option.
He doesn’t have the elite offensive line that Goff has had. He doesn’t have David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs behind him. He will need Nabers to be his Amon-Ra St. Brown and Robinson to be a young Sterling Shepard and Theo Johnson to be his Sam LaPorta.
So yes, the odds are against him. It doesn’t mean he shouldn’t allow himself to look across at Jared Goff and see a quarterback who got up off the mat and won over a skeptical team and town.
For the latest in sports, top headlines, breaking news and more, visit nypost.com/sports/
Comments / 0