Giants clarify Daniel Jones’ fragile status in 2021: ‘our quarterback’

The Giants are hoping and expecting to find Daniel Jones as a starting quarterback for Sunday’s game in Baltimore and look no further than this week’s practice as they assess his health after two injuries.

Still, there’s a season beyond that, and Jones struggled in the second year after a promising rookie season. Are the Giants sold on Jones for 2021?

“Daniel Jones is our quarterback,” head coach Joe Judge said Wednesday.

Jones strained his right hamstring on Nov. 29 in Cincinnati and missed the next game, a win in Seattle with Colt McCoy as a substitute starter. Jones returned in Week 14, clearly was uncomfortable, and suffered a sprained left ankle in a loss to the Cardinals. Jones missed last week’s 20-6 loss to the Browns.

Jones was able to participate in the portion of Wednesday’s practice that was open to media, taking the first snap with the starting attack in the first few drills.

“We will throw him by practice [Wednesday] and tomorrow and see where it is, ” the judge said. “In a perfect world, I would like to have an answer as soon as possible. I’m not going to go ahead and set a timeline on this. We’ll come out of Friday after practice with some sort of response. We’ve had good feedback from him and the coaches, but we’ll have to put him on and see how he moves. ”

The next opponent, the Ravens, also has a 23-year-old quarterback. Lamar Jackson, in his third season, just won the 2019 NFL Most Valuable Player award. He’s stepped down as the franchise’s quarterback.

When did the Ravens find out? Was there an “aha” moment that convinced the organization that they had their guy?

“I probably felt that after the first two games two years ago, the first year in 2018,” said Ravens coach John Harbaugh.

The judge said it wasn’t that bad with Jones.

“I don’t know if there is an ‘aha’ moment,” the judge said. “I do not say [Harbaugh] wrong to have had his own “aha” moment. For me, it’s a series of moments. Watching Daniel work, watching the respect he has in the locker room, watching him improve throughout this season. He has shown a level of tenacity, leadership and knowledge on the ground that gives us the confidence to put him out there and build with Daniel. I won’t emphasize a moment. I can talk about this whole season about this guy who has definitely earned my respect. I kind of made it really hard at first for him in a lot of ways, and he didn’t blink. ”