The New York Giants are set for the upcoming season with starting quarterback Eli Manning and currently have rookie Daniel Jones as the backup.
But if anything were to happen to Manning before the start of the regular season, offensive coordinator Mike Shula believes Jones, the sixth overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft, wouldn't have an issue taking over under center.
"I think he'd be ready to go, that's my personal opinion," Shula said Wednesday, via Tom Rock of Newsday. "I think he has that capability."
Numerous eyes outside the organization could roll at Shula's comments, especially when considering the social media backlash when the Giants selected Jones in the first round. For his part, Jones recently said he is aware of the criticism before adding, "It's my job to make people believe in me."
Regardless what others beyond the team's headquarters think, the Giants thought highly enough of Jones to select him with a high draft pick. And Shula knows his young signal-caller well enough from spending time with him during the pre-draft process.
Moreover, Shula fully grasps the landscape of today's NFL when it comes to the quarterback position and drafted players.
"Times have changed," Shula said. "In years past you would draft a guy, whenever you draft him, even if it was that early, those guys would traditionally not play until their second or third year. But ever since probably what, six or seven years ago, you started seeing more guys play early."
In the meantime, the Giants offensive coordinator is merely expressing his opinion that Jones could be ready in Week 1 if needed. That final decision would come from head coach Pat Shurmur.
As of now ahead of organized team activities and training camp, the Giants won't be faced with a quarterback dilemma given the presence of Manning, who has one year remaining on his contract.
And in a perfect world, the Giants won't have to find out if Shula is correct on Jones because he'll still be learning behind a healthy Manning in 2019.
