With the New York Giants mired in a 2-8 season and the future murky at best, general manager Joe Schoen responded in the affirmative when asked if he thought he'd be back for a fourth season.
When asked about the future of quarterback Daniel Jones, Schoen was anything but emphatic.
With a decision on Jones remaining the Giants' starter looming over New York's bye week, Schoen did say that any determination would be about the on-field product rather than financials, specifically the quarterback's $23 million 2025 injury guarantee.
"We're going to evaluate everything the rest of the week," Schoen said Tuesday, "and the decisions we make will be football decisions."
Pressed with a follow-up as to whether the guarantee would be involved in analyzing the predicament, Schoen continued to make "football decision" the phrase of the day.
"It will be a football decision," Schoen said. "Any decisions we make moving forward as we evaluate the roster and what we're doing for the final seven games will be football decisions."
Schoen's bye week news conference came just a day after head coach Brian Daboll said he would "evaluate things" as it related to Jones remaining the starter. It was a response that has many expecting backup Drew Lock will be the QB1 instead of the maligned Jones when Big Blue is back in action in Week 12 against the visiting Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Since Schoen and Daboll were brought on to helm the Giants ahead of the 2022 campaign, the team has produced a 17-26-1 record. It began with the promise of a 9-7-1 2022 season in which New York earned a playoff berth and a playoff win. That success ultimately led to Jones re-signing with the team on a four-year, $160 million contract that was almost immediately lambasted by fans and media, alike.
Thereafter, things haven't been awesome.
Jones has battled injuries and bad play with New York having gone 6-11 in 2023 and now sputtering through a five-game losing streak that included a 20-17 loss in Munich on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers.
Jones, a 2019 NFL Draft first-round pick by the previous Giants regime, was particularly bad against the Panthers, throwing a pair of picks, no touchdowns and completing 59.5% of his passes. For the season, he's averaging 207 yards per game, has thrown only eight touchdowns and seven interceptions and holds a 79.4 QB rating.
He has always shown flashes with his arm and legs, but his valleys have been far more consistent than his peaks. Nonetheless, it's a very real question as to whether Lock would give the G-Men a better shot at winning than Jones.
Schoen indicated that would be the determining factor under center going forward and not freeing the franchise of $23 million by sitting Jones. It's a move that many have speculated the Las Vegas Raiders pulled off when benching Derek Carr for the final two games of the 2022 season and the Denver Broncos followed suit with when they sat Russell Wilson for the last two contests of the 2023 campaign.
"We have seven games left in this season, and that's what we're focused on," Schoen said. "We're focused on 2024, and how we can get better these final seven games."
Schoen's presser was hardly an easy watch, as can be expected when the GM for a last place team addresses the media 10 games into a disastrous season. He was asked point blank if he thought he'd be retained for next season, to which he simply replied, "Yes."
However, when asked to analyze Jones' play, Schoen was quick to point out the team has struggled in multiple facets, not just at QB.
"It's everybody," the GM said. "Everybody's got a hand in this. I know being the quarterback, offensive coordinator, head coach, people like to point to those guys in general. Daniel's played some good games and there's been some games where maybe you'd like to have some throws back or do things differently. But in general, it's not one individual or one situation that keeps occurring.
"Again, we're going to look at solutions and evaluate everything like (Daboll) said yesterday."
