Wide receiver Darius Slayton was point-blank about what his teammate could do to silence the growing number of critics.
Daniel Jones, the quarterback for the New York Giants, is arguably the most divisive figure in New York sports right now between his team’s supporters. Some others share the opinion of tea co-owner John Mara, who notably acknowledged a few years ago that the team had tried everything to ruin Jones’ career by failing to surround him with a strong supporting group.
Then there are those who believe that Jones is the cause of everything that is wrong with the world—a pitiful person who, regardless of the talent surrounding him or the type of system he is supposed to oversee, is unable to get out of his own way. The Giants are sticking behind Jones, who is recuperating from ACL surgery, even though the argument will probably continue because they were unable to select a quarterback in this year’s draft.
But receiver Darius Slayton, who came into the league in the same draft class as Jones–Slayton was a fifth-round pick and Jones a first-rounder in 2019–has a solution to ease the disdain some within the fan base have for Jones.
“Win,” Slayton said. “I think we all need to win. If you want to be seen as a good player in this league, if you lose, the consensus is they must all be bad players. If you win — two years ago when we were in the playoffs–there wasn’t this negative press.”
It sounds simple enough, but Jones can’t do it alone. Last year, he played behind arguably one of the worst offensive lines he’s seen since entering the NFL. It was a line whose lack of depth was exposed thanks to injury.
He also played games in which he didn’t have running back Saquon Barkley or tight end Darren Waller, two players who were supposed to add some spark to the offense.
Not that Jones was blameless in the offense’s struggles. He led the Giants’ three quarterbacks in turnover-worthy plays (4.1 percent), a percentage that was fifth among all quarterbacks with a minimum of 200 dropbacks last season.
His indecisiveness post-snap was also a problem. Of the pressures he endured, 31.6 percent resulted in sacks, the second-most (behind teammate Tommy DeVito) in that sample group.
That said, Slayton knows that Jones, like everyone else on the offense, needs to be better than they were last season.
“The narrative comes and goes depending on how your team does,” Slayton said. “It’s on me and him and all the rest of the guys we have to get this team going in the right direction.”
