Giants did what they needed to in naming Daniel Jones the starter

After a rough first two weeks of the season, Daniel Jones will replace Eli Manning as the New York Giants starting quarterback entering Week 3.

All good things must come to an end. After a decade-plus at the helm for the New York Giants, a starting quarterback change is coming in the Big Apple. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Giants have announced Daniel Jones as their starter for Week 3, replacing the longtime incumbent Eli Manning.

New York used its No. 6 overall pick to draft the David Cutcliffe disciple out of Duke University in the 2019 NFL Draft. Though not a star in the ACC, Jones certainly put enough good stuff on tape for the Giants to not only feel comfortable with taking that high in last spring’s NFL Draft but to replace Manning this soon in the starting lineup.

With the Giants off to an 0-2 start and looking like the worst team in the NFC, it only seemed inevitable for Jones to replace Manning at some point this season. Jones played very well in the preseason, while Manning hasn’t been an elite thrower of the football for some time.

Though Manning did lead the G-Men to their two most recent Super Bowl victories, those titles came at the end of the 2007 and 2011 NFL seasons. We’re about to enter 2020 here in a few months and Jones will be the starter going forward.

With a star second-year running back in Saquon Barkley and a talented tight end in Evan Engram, perhaps Jones can elevate the Giants offense to get them back to playing competitive football? Of course, the defense must improve if New York wants to be anything other than a bottom-feeder in the NFC this season.

Going forward, New York has to be all-in on the Jones era of Giants football. If the Giants think about putting an aging Manning back in there again, they will be doing a disservice to Jones’ long-term growth.

This is not a year that the G-Men will be hoisting a Lombardi Trophy. The best thing they can do is to give Jones as many reps as possible in his rookie season to hopefully jumpstart an excellent year two in the league. It all starts when the Giants go on the road to take on the 1-1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James this upcoming Sunday.

With the Buccaneers having had their issues for the last decade, this feels like a good entry point for the Jones era to begin. Tampa Bay isn’t exactly an elite home-field advantage for the Buccaneers, so Jones stands a chance to pull off the upset in his first career start.

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The Giants may not be good this year, but at least they are now interesting with Jones as their new starting quarterback.