Daniel Jones, coming off a torn ACL suffered last November, says he has no doubt he'll be ready for the start of the season. This isn't surprising; he knows it's a make or break year for him. Should fantasy teams invest?
Looking at the numbers, I'd say there's some serviceable backup potential. But not a guy I'm expecting to roster anywhere. And I think I'll regularly be interested in defenses that are facing him.
Jones was drafted back in 2019; he's missed multiple games due to injury in all but one of those seasons. Even the last three years, two of which were spent with Brian Daboll and in which he was productive enough to land the big contract he's currently playing on, he's been a pretty marginal option -- better in fantasy league, thanks to the rushing production, but not great. And considering last year's ACL injury, you wonder if his mobility and running will be close to what it was pre-injury.
The last three seasons, he's played all or most of 31 games. He's reached 20 fantasy points in 13 of them; about 40 percent. Most of it is due to rushing; he's averaged 38 rushing yards, with a touchdown on the ground about once every three weeks.
His other offensive numbers are modest: 207 passing yards, and just under 1 TD pass per game. He's taken 3 sacks per game and averaged slightly over an interception/fumble per game. The averages (1 point for 10 rushing yards and 20 passing yards) work out to a little over 19 fantasy points in typical leagues that don't penalize for turnovers.
Only one of his better games was last season. In the table below, Jones' 2023 outings are in bold.
| DANIEL JONES, 2021-2023 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Pass | PaTD | Run | RuTD | Int | Sk | Fum | Pts |
| 2022 | Ind. | 177 | 2 | 91 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38.0 |
| 2023 | at Ari. | 321 | 2 | 59 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 36.0 |
| 2022 | Det. | 341 | 1 | 50 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 32.1 |
| 2021 | at Was. | 249 | 1 | 95 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 32.0 |
| 2022 | at Jac. | 202 | 1 | 107 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 30.8 |
| 2021 | at N.O. | 402 | 2 | 27 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 30.8 |
| 2021 | Den. | 267 | 1 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 26.1 |
| 2022 | at Min. | 334 | 1 | 34 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 24.1 |
| 2022 | Chi. | 71 | 0 | 68 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 22.4 |
| 2022 | Was. | 200 | 1 | 71 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 21.1 |
| 2022 | Phi. | 169 | 1 | 26 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 21.1 |
| 2021 | at K.C. | 222 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 20.3 |
| 2022 | Hou. | 197 | 2 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 20.3 |
| 2022 | at Ten. | 188 | 2 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 19.9 |
| 2022 | Dal. | 196 | 0 | 79 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 17.7 |
| 2022 | Bal. | 173 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 17.3 |
| 2021 | Atl. | 266 | 0 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 17.2 |
| 2021 | Phi. | 202 | 1 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 17.1 |
| 2021 | Car. | 203 | 1 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 17.0 |
| 2022 | at Dal. | 228 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 16.8 |
| 2023 | Sea. | 203 | 0 | 66 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 16.8 |
| 2022 | Car. | 176 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 14.9 |
| 2022 | at G.B. | 217 | 0 | 37 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 14.6 |
| 2021 | at T.B. | 167 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 13.4 |
| 2021 | LAR | 242 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 12.5 |
| 2022 | at Was. | 160 | 0 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.5 |
| 2021 | L.V. | 110 | 1 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 11.2 |
| 2022 | at Sea. | 176 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 10.8 |
| 2023 | Dal. | 104 | 0 | 43 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 9.5 |
| 2023 | at Mia. | 119 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 8.4 |
| 2023 | at S.F. | 137 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7.4 |
| Avg. | 207.1 | 0.9 | 38.5 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 3.0 | 0.5 | 19.6 | |
Maybe I'll be wrong and Jones will be out there running like a deer and racking up 40-plus rushing yards per week, with the occasional touchdown and strong fantasy week. But I think the position is deep enough that I don't need to make the investment. The Giants don't have any choice this year -- their backup is Drew Lock, who will probably start games at some point, but not elevate the offense. But we can find better options elsewhere.
--Andy Richardson