If Daniel Jones was Black he Would be Sacked
I’ve listened for years at people in the New York media criticizing the throwing ability of several black quarterbacks. Lamar Jackson, Justin Fields, and Jalen Hurts immediately come to mind for starters. So, I could only imagine the way they would talk about Daniel Jones if he were black. I totally believe if Daniel Jones was black and playing the position as uninspiring as he has through four seasons and five games into this season, he would have been run out of New York a long time ago.
Before some get upset and have an initial instinct to dismiss this piece, let’s just be clear that in the 98-year history of the New York Giants franchise only one game ever has been started by a black quarterback (Before Daniel Jones missed week 6). I know that no one who is unbiased and not a racist could think that there has never been a black quarterback capable of starting for the Giants. And if Daniel Jones was really legit there would be no problem with this quarterback, but he is not.
Often times I’ve heard these black quarterbacks slighted, where critics essentially say they can run but they cannot “beat you from the pocket”, and their throwing ability is a question mark that needs vast improvement. But when it comes to New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, excuses are made. The narrative that many around the Giants like to spin is that Daniel Jones does not have that many “weapons”. That was the excuse given all last season when Jones managed to throw just 15 touchdowns. Even though a quarterback like Lamar Jackson, who has led the entire NFL in touchdown passes with less offensive talent than Jones had last season, is routinely slighted when it comes to his passing ability. We never hear people in the media offer Lamar an excuse by saying that he does not have much to work with, never. Lamar is so exceptional that he lifts his teams to victory so often that the public doesn’t realize how little supporting talent he has had because his team still wins. Lamar has a record of 49–18 through this point in his career which is one of the highest winning percentages in league history.
Justin Fields had less to work with last season than Jones, because Jones had Saqoun Barkley and Fields did not have a player of that caliber to work with. Fields threw two more touchdowns than Jones in 2022, in just his second season, while Jones was already in his fourth season. Yet, all I heard last season was how Justin Fields wasn’t that good of a passer. But when it came to Jones excuses were made that he was by himself on offense. With all the criticism that Fields has taken early in this season, he has thrown for 11 touchdowns and five interceptions compared to 2 touchdowns and 6 interceptions for Jones.
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All you hear on New York radio, a medium that measures the pulse of the fanbase, when it comes to Giants football, is how Daniel Jones does not have this and does not have that. Last season, Jones was lauded for his running ability and elusiveness. For being able to “carry” his team with his legs at times, making plays and keeping the chains moving with “nobody” to throw the ball to. Ironically, Jones running numbers pale in comparison to those of the top black quarterbacks who the same voices criticize for the things they praise Jones for. These same voices also, acting as if it would not be crazy to suggest that Jones receive some MVP votes last season based on his mediocre production, have routinely taken shots at the throwing ability of the aforementioned three black quarterbacks. Prattling on ad nauseum about how these men and others like them “can’t throw” or aren’t that proficient in the passing game. This is never said about Jones no matter how much he proves repeatedly that he is a non-factor in the passing game. These excuses do not apply to black quarterbacks; they must be exceptional, or they lose their job.
If Jalen Hurts had spent the first three seasons of his career the way Daniel Jones did, with a 12–25 record and poor statistics across the board, he would not have gotten a fourth year to prove himself the way Daniel Jones was afforded last season. There has been only one black quarterback ever in the NFL who has been able to start three full seasons for a team, lose, and keep their job, Jason Campbell. But that’s it! There are several white quarterbacks however who have been allowed to lose for three and four years and keep a starting position. Sam Darnold is another example. Darnold got four seasons to start for the Jets and do nothing. And then he had a second team in the Carolina Panthers give him a starting job to begin his fifth NFL season. Such examples are endless. Go take a look at Alex Smith’s career and how many chances he got after years and years of being a bust #1 overall pick before he pulled himself up to becoming a decent looking NFL quarterback.
After Hurts led Philadelphia to the playoffs in his first full season as the starter in 2021, there was still mass conversations that entire offseason as too whether the Eagles should move forward with Hurts as their starter, or select a quarterback in the draft. Jones meanwhile was able to do nothing through his first three seasons and still have a job. Hurts near MVP season in 2022, which nearly ended with a Super Bowl victory, forced everyone to quiet the hate. The other day I heard a New York sports talk radio voice wonder out loud why the Giants offense is not as effective as the Eagles because Jones essentially runs like Hurts runs. What should be obvious to this talking head is that Daniel Jones is nowhere near on the same level as Jalen Hurts, and never was. From the time they were on the collegiate level, based on any standard, Daniel Jones was never in the same stratosphere as Hurts. Imagine a white quarterback like Jalen Hurts winning and performing the way he did at the University of Alabama, the university of Oklahoma, and then a Super Bowl appearance, and then some mediocre performing black quarterback came along from Duke that most people had never heard of before the NFL Draft. I don’t think anyone would be dumbfounded as to why the quarterback with the elite credentials was outperforming the one without them.
Black quarterbacks like Jackson, Hurts, and Fields get criticized for what many in the New York media praise Daniel Jones for, and that’s running. With Jones, the narrative is that he has no “weapons” and he is doing all he can with his legs to keep the team going. When it comes to the black quarterbacks the narrative is that all they want to do is run and they aren’t that good throwing the football. Even though they all have passing statistics much better than Jones. Before this season began the Giants acquired a two-time Pro Bowl Tight-end, a wide receiver from the draft who nearly ran up 300 yards receiving by himself on Alabama last season, and some more talent, and yet it is still the same ineffectiveness for Jones with two touchdowns and six interceptions through five games. But they will find excuses for Jones, like the offensive line, which has been a decade long excuse made for Eli Manning and now Jones.
In their almost 100-year history, the New York Football Giants had only one game started by a black quarterback before Jones missed week six and Tyrod Taylor started. That quarterback was Geno Smith who came into Giants Stadium earlier in the season and helped his Seattle Seahawks embarrass the Giants in front of the fanbase that acted as if they wanted his head after the organization benched Eli Manning deep into a losing season that had spiraled out of control in large part due to Manning’s ineffectiveness. The benching ended Eli’s consecutive games streak, a streak that should have ended a long time before it did because the Giants were a losing team for years with Eli at the helm beginning midway through the 2012 season. But the Giants organization lost their standard of accountability at the quarterback position once it came to Eli Manning. It has continued now with Daniel Jones.
No quarterback before Manning, was allowed to remain the starter after years and years and years of losing. Kerry Collins, who has more Giants postseason records than Manning has, in only four full seasons as a starter, was stripped of his job after a losing season in 2003. Hell, Phil Simms lost his job after the 1993 season when he led the team to an 11–5 record and a first-round playoff win. The Giants kicked him to the curb after that season, for Dave Brown, whose #17 Jersey Daniel Jones wore as he quarterbacked Duke about two and a half decades after Brown played there. It’s hard for football fans to even name another NFL player who went to Duke, yet the Giants felt this was the guy to run their franchise. Dave Brown by the way is arguably the worse starting quarterback in the franchise’s history.
Now, after the Giants allowed Manning to stay for eight years of some of the worse football in Giants history from 2012–2019, the organization once again, is not showing the accountability that they once did at the quarterback position. And for the record, Daniel Jones has a strong connection with the Manning clan that has been well documented. Sounds convenient to me. If Jones were a black quarterback, or had Jones come along in another era in Giants history, he would have been unceremoniously kicked to the Big Apple curb a long time ago.
