In Jones the Giants Trust, Even if Few Others Do

And yet, with Manning in his twilight, Dave Gettleman, the Giants general manager, wanted Jones so badly that he might have risked his career by selecting him when he did.

The fates of the two men are now intertwined. Gettleman heard that people had lampooned the pick on social media and that fans had booed Jones’s selection at a watch party at MetLife Stadium. Some had hoped that Gettleman would use the pick to add an elite pass rusher, like Josh Allen from Kentucky, who was taken by the Jacksonville Jaguars immediately after Jones.

Others felt that if the Giants were ready to move on from Manning, who has struggled at quarterback in recent seasons, then they should have sought his replacement last year, when passers like Sam Darnold, Josh Allen (a different one) and Josh Rosen were available, or waited until next year, when several more highly rated quarterbacks are expected to be in the draft. To them, the Jones pick seemed to land in the middle of nowhere.

Asked what he would tell the legion of frustrated fans, Gettleman said confidently, “In time, you’ll be very pleased.”

Cutcliffe was more direct, uttering the words all football fans hold most dear: Jones, he declared, would ultimately give the fans a “Super Bowl opportunity,” just as Manning has done twice.

Indeed, on draft night, everything seems possible, but Zac Roper, the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Duke who was a graduate assistant at Mississippi during Manning’s tenure there, said the comparisons between Jones and Manning were “very fair.” Jones has the same football knowledge, Roper said. He sees the field as well as Manning, has “superb” accuracy and is, at least according to Roper, every bit as durable as Manning.