Giants head coach Joe Judge again offers high praise for QB Daniel Jones

New York Giants head coach Joe Judge has only held the job since January 2020 but will soon have to determine if he's willing to risk his position with the club on sticking with Daniel Jones as his starting quarterback. 

Jones hasn't yet done enough over his first two NFL seasons to prove he's a long-term answer at the sport's most important position, and the fifth-year option attached to his contract for the 2023 campaign will have to be either picked up or declined by this time next year. 

Per Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk, Judge expressed confidence his QB1 will deliver the goods this fall during an appearance on the "Flying Coach" podcast. 

“I’m always excited about working with Daniel — I really am," Judge explained. "This guy’s had a really good offseason for us. I thought that Daniel grew a lot last year. And there’s no excuses for anything, everyone had the same obstacles. I thought Daniel going into a new offense last year, without a spring, without really a training camp, without preseason games — there were some things that he had to adjust to within the season and as a team improved, he was a huge part of it.

"One thing about this guy that I can’t say enough is how everyone responds to him. This is a guy that I didn’t know before I took the job. I didn’t, which is why I was so reserved in making comments about him — it wasn’t going to be fair to him. The more I’ve gotten to know him, and really you get to know him and watch him work. But this guy is a leader. This is a guy, he steps in the huddle, the guys respond to [him]. Offensively and defensively, these guys all respond to him. He is tough. There’s no hiding that. The team knows that he’s going to play through certain kinds of injuries. And he’s a tough dude. He works relentlessly."

Both Judge and general manager Dave Gettleman committed to Jones as New York's starter this past March, and Simmons noted that star running back Saquon Barkley praised the signal-caller's work ethic last week during an interview. 

It's a positive everybody involved is saying only the right things ahead of training camp, but the Giants failing to win at least eight or nine games this season could ultimately result in the club jettisoning Jones (and maybe also Judge) before the 2022 NFL Draft.