Joe Schoen said Wednesday that “we need better” from Daniel Jones in 2024. But Jones and this Giants franchise need better from the GM and coach Brian Daboll, too.
Jones, who is practicing in full only eight months after surgery to repair a torn right ACL, needs a baseline of competence from the front office and coaching staff to assemble a reliable starting five on the offensive line.
What Jones does not need are injuries to two projected starting linemen through one day of training camp and flashbacks to a 2023 season from pass protection hell.
That’s what Jones got on Wednesday, though, when top free agent signing Jermaine Eluemunor got hurt while playing in place of injured right tackle Evan Neal (ankle).
Now there is no telling how long it will take for Jones’ true starting five to get on the field together entering a pivotal season for this QB, this team and this regime.
This offense ranked 30th in scoring and allowed the second-most sacks in NFL history last season. Wednesday was not a good start.
“I think that’s important,” Jones said of a quarterback’s need to get his O-line set. “The chemistry of those guys together, playing together, getting on the same page, communicating, me communicating with them, and them communicating with me is important.”
“Injuries are part of the game, and I understand that,” Jones added. “But obviously, you want to stay as healthy as possible, and the health of that group can help everybody. So that’s important, but I know those guys are working hard to get back.”
The Giants can’t get out of their own way when it comes to building a line and keeping it healthy, however. Take Wednesday, for example.
Eluemunor was the Las Vegas Raiders’ starting right tackle last season. The Giants made him a priority free agent signing, practiced him primarily at left guard all spring, and then moved him to right tackle for their first training camp practice due to Neal’s absence.
Promptly, a player who had been preparing to play on the left side got hurt one hour into his first practice on the right.
The severity of the injury wasn’t immediately known after practice. It took Eluemunor a while to rise up off the grass. He appeared to be grabbing at his oblique or ribs, and he only stood up with the help of head athletic trainer Ronnie Barnes and left tackle Andrew Thomas.
But this was reminiscent of how training camp rotations have backfired on Schoen and Daboll before.
Just last year, they rotated guards Josh Ezeudu, Ben Bredeson and Mark Glowinski at the two starting positions on every single snap during camp, creating no continuity for rookie center John Michael Schmitz and the line.
Then they kicked Ezeudu out to left tackle with Thomas and Matt Peart injured, despite all of that guard work, and he was predictably not prepared to protect Jones’ blindside.
Not to mention that Neal’s absence, which prompted Eluemunor’s move to right tackle on Wednesday, is connected to the Giants’ mismanagement of their line, too.
Neal originally injured his ankle on Nov. 5, 2023, in Las Vegas, the same day Jones tore his right ACL. But the injury was initially misdiagnosed and rehabilitated as a sprain.
Eventually it was discovered to be a fracture, and Neal had surgery in late December. Still, when he got back on the field in the spring, it seemed clear that he suffered some sort of setback.
Because the Giants backed off his workload dramatically late in their offseason program, and then he was placed on the physically unable to perform list on Tuesday when he reported for camp.
Schoen and Daboll couldn’t even keep their stories straight on Neal’s timeline. Schoen said Neal is “not far off” from coming back. But Daboll said: “I can’t tell you. It could be sooner, it could be later for Evan.”
Schoen did have another free agent signing, former Buccaneer Aaron Stinnie, prepared to slide into the left guard spot vacated by Eluemunor’s move to the right. So that reflects the GM’s plan to try to avoid a disaster of last season’s proportions.
Still, it’s unthinkable that Schoen’s stated priority this offseason was “we gotta protect [Jones],” as he said in HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” and yet this is where the Giants stand: unsettled, unhealthy and unreliable up front, with Schoen poking around for late free agent plug-ins like Dave Gettleman used to do.
Carmen Bricillo is the Giants’ eighth offensive line coach in the last 10 years. Maybe it’s not all on the position coaches.
“He didn’t have much of a chance this year,” Schoen said of Jones’ 2023 season in “Hard Knocks.”
He won’t have one in 2024 either if Schoen and Daboll don’t figure this out.
NO SYMPATHY FOR SLAYTON
Schoen had a piercing response to wide receiver Darius Slayton’s admitted desire for a trade this spring. The GM was asked if he and Slayton had resolved that issue or if a trade is still a potential consideration.
“When he came in, we had a conversation, and that was never an option,” Schoen said. “He was a free agent two years ago, and 32 teams had a chance to get his services, and he came back here. And I believe we gave him the best deal at the time, and it was a two-year deal. And we had a good conversation, and he understood where we were, and I understood where he was coming from. And we put it to bed when he showed up in the spring.”
PRACTICE NOTES
Tight end Lawrence Cager made the leaping catch of the day deep down the left sideline on a throw from No. 2 quarterback Drew Lock. Lock later threw an interception off defensive tackle Jordan Phillips’ helmet that D-end Boogie Basham caught and returned. … First-round pick Malik Nabers dropped a pass downfield that hit him right in the chest with coverage closing in. … Jones connected on a bunch of short routes but showed his rust. He overthrew running back Devin Singletary in the flat against a blitz from corner Dru Phillips and sailed one over undersized slot receiver Wan’Dale Robinson over the middle. Jones also scrambled a couple times on his surgically repaired knee, showing some encouraging — but not full — mobility. … Players like second-year corner Deonte Banks and inside linebacker Bobby Okereke were already on snap counts to manage their workloads on the first day.
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