07 August 2023 , 14:27
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New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones has no doubt that he is worthy of being the star of the franchise.
Jones was handed a four-year deal worth £124m ($160m) by the Giants earlier in the off-season. That works out at roughly £31m ($40m) and puts him among the highest-earners in terms of quarterbacks in the NFL.
The No.6 overall pick from the 2019 NFL Draft is getting ready for his fifth season with the Giants. In the process, he has replaced franchise and league Eli Manning as the Giants’ starting QB.
However, the awarding of the contract has led to question marks in certain quarters. But the player himself is in no doubt about his qualities and what he is worth to the Giants.
"I'm very confident in myself," Jones told . "I'm very confident that I can play this game at a high level and lead this team to win a lot of games."
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Jones has been the starting quarterback in each of his four seasons with the Giants so far. The 2022 regular season saw the QB complete 15 touchdown passes for 3,205 yards and 317 completions.
The Giants clearly have plenty of faith in Jones, however, that view is not shared by one former NFL star. Ex-running back Le’Veon Bell recently spoke about Jones’ qualities as a quarterback.
Bell, who has not played in the NFL since leaving the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in January 2022, explained why he thinks Jones is a “bottom tier” quarterback. The comment came amid a discussion about Saquon Barkley, who signed a one-year deal worth $11 million (£8.6 million) after being handed a franchise tag.
“Daniel Jones, he’s in the bottom tier. He’s in the bottom tier of NFL quarterbacks,” Bell said on the AP Pro Football podcast last week.
“He’s not mediocre. There are average quarterbacks, he’s in the bottom tier. I’m not here trying to talk bad about Daniel Jones.
“I’m just trying to be real for everybody who’s hearing it. He’s in the bottom tiers. Saquon [Barkley] is in the top tier of his position, running back. So how does that make sense?”
Jones and the Giants will be busy preparing for the pre-season schedule that awaits them this month. The NFC East franchise will face the Detroit Lions, Carolina Panthers and New York Jets in friendly games, in preparation for the Week One opener versus divisional rivals the Dallas Cowboys on September 10.