Implications of Daniel Jones' NFL Preseason Performance
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00:00It's preseason, but as we said in our opening hour, that does not mean the reactions are only for the preseason
00:07or maybe we use this time to make sure we are game ready and regular season ready come Monday, September 9th.
00:15That will be the first Monday following the first full Sunday slate around the National Football League.
00:21DRS, we're going to play a little NFL buy or sell from the weekend.
00:26That wasn't forecasting a new campaign in 2024 for the National Football League.
00:31I mentioned it briefly. One of the stories out of a 13-game slate on Saturday was not a good performance,
00:39a promising performance in Houston, but one that left us scratching our head and oftentimes laughing out loud.
00:46That was Daniel Jones and his preseason debut for the New York Giants.
00:50One of his first passes of the game was almost a safety.
00:55It was taken the other way for a pick six. He threw another interception.
01:00Not all that much later on. Yeah, 138 passing yards, but two INTs and no passing scores.
01:07Buy or sell, Donnie? Daniel Jones is the worst starting quarterback in the NFL.
01:14It's not an easy answer because usually like, oh, well, there should be four or five opportunities
01:18where he can be a better quarterback than a lot of guys out here, and I don't know if that is.
01:21So technically, I'll sell it because I'm just looking at maybe two quarterback names on here.
01:26The Will Levis of the Titans. We're not really too sure what we're going to get out of him this year,
01:31but he does have some pretty good compliments around him.
01:33I guess the other one would be Jacoby Brissett, who's supposed to be your day one starter in New England.
01:38We're also talking about guys that haven't even secured that starting job technically at this point.
01:42I mean, probably Will Levis is going to get it by default, and Jacoby Brissett, we've been told, is that leader,
01:46but who knows how long he'll actually be.
01:48But from a season-long perspective, where you enter week number one and are supposed to be the starter for 17 weeks,
01:55not holding that placemat for three to four weeks before the rookie takes over, it probably is Daniel Jones at that point.
02:01Now, you saw the 11 for 18, like, hey, look, he threw for over 100 yards.
02:04That's impressive, when technically it's not.
02:06Had three terrible decisions with the football, two wound up being an interception,
02:10and one actually got returned for a pick-six, one of the worst throws you're going to see from a veteran quarterback.
02:15But his mobility was there.
02:17He's going to be able to do some things within that offense.
02:19But again, the ceiling on Daniel Jones, 15, 16 touchdown passes,
02:24it's absurdity that a starting quarterback would have that as sort of his ceiling here.
02:28So by default, on the starters, you expect to be day one through week 17, week 18 next year.
02:35You probably have to buy that he is the worst quarterback.
02:38But if it's just about lining up the top 32 quarterbacks, I probably would sell.
02:42But again, not from a vantage point where I have, like, five or six names that I can absolutely go to
02:47that I know are going to be worse than Daniel Jones.
02:49And he didn't exactly lift everybody's expectations.
02:51Because as soon as those games kicked off, as soon as we got the highlights back in,
02:55it was like, oh, yeah, look at his pass by Daniel Jones.
02:58And nobody's like, wow, that's kind of interesting.
02:59No, we all laughed and said, yeah, that's Daniel Jones.
03:03Yeah, and that's the tough part, right?
03:05You never want to be one of the storylines from a preseason game
03:08when you are the presumptive starter because everybody is laughing at you.
03:1226-75 and a hook.
03:15That is the passing yards prop for the 2024 season for Daniel Jones,
03:19a number he has gone over in three of his five NFL seasons during his career.
03:26But that should show you what the odds outlook is for Danny Dimes.
03:31Of course, he was paid following 2022, in which the Giants earned a playoff spot.
03:36They knocked off Minnesota on the road.
03:39Super wild-card weekend.
03:40And Daniel Jones looked pretty darn good.
03:42Rookie year under Brian Dayball, a winning record.
03:45Things felt at least OK for the New York Giants.
03:49Very different feel this year.
03:52The Giants, the longest price of the four teams in the NFC East.
03:56A win total of only six and a half in the under has the hefty, hefty juice.
04:01I'm going to sell the notion that Daniel Jones is the worst starting quarterback
04:06in the National Football League because, as Donnie mentioned,
04:09even with quarterback battles that might be a slight competition at this moment,
04:14you would have to go through the list and say that out of 32, Daniel Jones ranks 32.
04:20Do we give rookies an advantage over Danny Dimes who we haven't seen?
04:25Is Bo Nicks better than Daniel Jones?
04:27Is Caleb Williams better than Daniel Jones?
04:30I think people in Denver, Chicago, Washington with Jaden Daniels
04:34would take their rookie quarterback based on promise alone over Danny Dimes at this moment.
04:40But it's tough to say a rookie is better when they haven't recorded a regular season stat at this moment.
04:48Is Daniel Jones better than Gardner Minshew?
04:50Is Daniel Jones better than Anthony Richardson?
04:52Bryce Young?
04:53Again, I think those questions are out there.
04:56Is Daniel Jones better than Sam Darnold?
04:58Now the starter in Minnesota because of the injury to J.J. McCarthy.
05:01Maybe even if J.J. McCarthy was fully healthy,
05:05I'd give Danny Dimes the edge as of right now against Sam Darnold.
05:08Is he bottom 5?
05:10Okay.
05:10Is he bottom 10?
05:11For sure, I would say that.
05:13Which makes this season, Donnie, not about is Daniel Jones a starting quarterback.
05:17Is Daniel Jones a good starting quarterback?
05:20Does he rank in the top 20 in the top half around the National Football League?
05:25It makes this season for me a question of what success looks like for the G-Men.
05:31And what it means moving forward.
05:33Will Joe Shane?
05:34Will Brian Dayball be back for their fourth year in the National Football League following year three together?
05:42And here's the crazy part about the question is that we're even asking this question.
05:45Just a year and a half ago, whatever it was,
05:47they're signing Daniel Jones as their franchise guy to a big-money contract.
05:51And here we are, him getting on the football field after his first preseason appearance, basically,
05:55saying to ourselves, is he the worst starting quarterback in the NFL?
05:59This is where the jokes write themselves at this point.
06:01If we're actually asking this question, why do we have a general manager in place that signed him
06:04and we're a coach who actually backed him?
06:06Because it wasn't as if it was a new regime got caught up in a bad contract.
06:10Let's play it out this year to see what we have.
06:11No, they chose this guy and we're asking the question, is he worse than Will Levis?
06:16Is he worse than Jacoby Brissett?
06:18Is he worse than a rookie quarterback who's never played in the NFL?
06:21That is straight-up insanity, but makes it so much fun to talk about
06:25because nothing that we've seen out of Daniel Jones.
06:27And to say like his best season was probably like his rookie year or second year
06:30where at least he was able to throw a decent amount of touchdown passes,
06:34how far that regression has gone.
06:35And also, it's not as if it's like, you know what?
06:37We really took care of Danny Dimes.
06:39We got three dynamite wide receivers, a great running back, a fantastic offensive line.
06:43This is his chance to shine.
06:44He's coming off a knee injury with one rookie wide receiver
06:47and absolutely nothing out there to work with.
06:50So yes, he might be the worst quarterback with maybe the worst starting cast outside of New England.
06:55Good luck, Daniel Jones.
06:57I wonder what Malik Nabors would answer this burning buyer's health question
07:02around the NFL at this moment.
07:04Daniel Jones' best year by far was 2022, better than a 67% completion percentage,
07:10his best mark in his NFL career, the most passing yards he has ever thrown for more than 3,200,
07:17but only 15 touchdowns.
07:18Tom Vecchio will join us in our number three for his Monday Prop Perspective.
07:23I know he is not too fond of at least Daniel Jones having better production than 16 1⁄2,
07:29which is his regular season passing touchdown prop.
07:34And Donnie is really right.
07:35When you look at this offseason, when you look at this preseason,
07:40you don't want your takeaway to be after his first preseason game,
07:44is he the worst quarterback?
07:46Even if you could argue adamantly,
07:48no, he is not the worst starting quarterback of all 32 around the NFL.
07:52And give us the names that we have floated out there in the conversation.
07:55The fact it's even a discussion is a very, very bad sign.
08:00DRS, I remember a couple of years ago during 2022,
08:03your guy Brian Rutkowski used to work here at SportsGrid,
08:06a great man in B-Ruts, big fan of the Giants.
08:09A lot of his friends at a birthday dinner that Kevin and I were at,
08:13were trying to debate Kevin and I that Daniel Jones was a top 16,
08:17top half starting quarterback in the National Football League.
08:20And it's a lot easier to name 16 better guys for Daniel Jones
08:24than maybe two or three worse guys.
08:27And that's the issue I think for this Giants organization.
08:31Yes.
08:31And also it's one of the few instances where you had a quarterback
08:35that was going to be set to be a free agent,
08:37that not a single other team,
08:39the other 31 teams would have even picked up the phone
08:42and made a phone call to his agent to have been their starting quarterback
08:45and pay them big money.
08:47The Giants bid against themselves with a bad football player
08:50and overpaid.
08:51And I remember the jokes that Kevin and I used to have on the early line
08:54when this deal actually went down.
08:56The bright spot of this contract wasn't what they paid Daniel Jones.
08:59It was that they had an escape hatch after two years.
09:02When you're signing your franchise guy,
09:03the best thing you could say about the contract is,
09:05if he stinks, we can get rid of him.
09:07You knew it was bad.
09:08And yes, they will be getting rid of Daniel Jones at the end of the season.
09:13Front-loaded in the first two years with all the guarantees.
09:16So there is that escape hatch entering 2025.
09:20More Buy or Sell next.
09:22More quarterbacking news and questions around the National Football League
09:26live right here on this Monday on The Early Line.
09:28In our favorite game, it's NFL Buy or Sell.
09:32Dak Prescott still looking for a new contract at the store.
09:38Dak Prescott, who, if he does not sign a contract extension,
09:43you would assume in the next few weeks,
09:45he will enter 2024 playing in under contract for his final year in Dallas.
09:52Here is what he has done so far for the Cowboys.
09:55Took over as the starting QB for Tony Romo during his rookie campaign
10:00way back in 2016 and has been the guy in Dallas ever since.
10:06But again, entering the final year of a contract extension,
10:10he signed ahead of 2020's campaign.
10:13You see the numbers, go to the regular season, flashy in terms of the stats.
10:18If there are questions about Dak Prescott, it's the playoff resume.
10:21Just two and five.
10:23But the issues that plague Dallas from a postseason perspective
10:27are much longer and deeper than that of Dak Prescott.
10:31They go back to 1995, well before Dak's tenure.
10:35He has not been the guy to turn it around at the store.
10:37I just throw that in there anytime Dak Prescott's playoff resume is brought up.
10:42But the question, Donnie, the question here in Buyer's Cell,
10:45Dak Prescott will be the Cowboys QB for the next five years.
10:50It's a great question because if the Buyer's Cell was a little bit different
10:52as if Dak Prescott's going to sign a lucrative long-term extension
10:55with the Cowboys, I'd absolutely be buying.
10:58But five years is a long time.
10:59Now, he's right in the middle of his prime at 31 years old.
11:02It's no question that if he re-signs with Dallas to have a great five years,
11:05but that's still a long, long runway here for him to complete.
11:09If I had to answer the question now,
11:10and of course, I would buy that because I do think he's going to get
11:13a long-term lucrative deal from the Dallas Cowboys.
11:16The one thing we know about Dak Prescott,
11:18he's very efficient and very good in the regular season.
11:21And that team does have weapons like CeeDee Lamb.
11:23If he does get in the camp, which he is now,
11:25if he is happy with his contract just even for this year,
11:27he will have a solid season, which means in the offseason,
11:30the Dallas Cowboys really just going to let Dak Prescott walk
11:33and get nothing for him and go draft a rookie quarterback and try again
11:36in our all-in win-now mode here for Jerry Jones to get a Super Bowl.
11:40I don't think that's going to be the case.
11:42I think they re-sign him to a long-term contract.
11:44But again, panning out if he's going to be a Dallas Cowboy when he's 36 years old
11:47as opposed to 33, 34, maybe 35, it's a little bit easier.
11:51But I don't, there's no world for myself
11:54where I think Dak Prescott is going to walk next year
11:57from the Dallas Cowboys without a new contract.
11:59That's not happening here.
12:00So the simple answer for me is I'm going to buy this
12:02because I do think Dak Prescott's going to get a long-term lucrative contract.
12:06The condition though is will he play five full years for the Cowboys?
12:09He'll be there at least for the next couple years.
12:11Five might be a slight stretch, but if I had to say it now, I'm buying it.
12:15I would have said Donnie two weeks ago, two months ago, buy for sure.
12:20I am fully in on Dak Prescott being the future of the Cowboys
12:23at least for the next half decade.
12:25I understand what you mean in terms of the age.
12:28He turned 31 at the end of July,
12:32but I'm really starting to question what the plan is in Dallas
12:37and I'm not entirely sure who has the leverage.
12:39I can tell you Jerry Jones thinks he does.
12:42There are reports that CeeDee Lamb was offered $33 million per year
12:47would make him the second highest paid receiver in the National Football League,
12:51but a full two mil annually behind Justin Jefferson
12:55and CeeDee Lamb was not all that pleased with that deal.
12:58Dak Prescott has not played for Dallas
13:01in either of the first two preseason games for the Cowboys.
13:04That's not necessarily a surprise,
13:07but Trey Lance is also not under contract for Dallas entering next season.
13:12And that's where I think Jerry Jones is playing a very, very dangerous game
13:16because as we have said multiple times on this show,
13:19your quarterback in Dak, your top wide receiver,
13:22and by far now your best offensive piece in CeeDee Lamb
13:26and your head coach Mike McCarthy are very, very close to entering a season
13:31in which they will play or coach in the final year of their contract,
13:37which would allow them to test the open market.
13:41I'm not sure who is bidding for Mike McCarthy,
13:43but I know people would bid for CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott.
13:47Jerry has all the money in the world.
13:49As we know the Cowboys last week were valued at 10.32 billion dollars,
13:55the richest sports franchise in the history of the world,
13:58the first to ever break through 10 billion dollars,
14:02and yet he's playing this dangerous game,
14:05where in a week from now, in 10 days from now,
14:08we are approaching game week around the National Football League
14:12without his quarterback and his wide receiver paid
14:15and under contract beyond this season.
14:18It's very murky waters, I think, at the start.
14:21Yeah, it's almost like playing Russian roulette,
14:23and we never could have had to come to this.
14:25Let's just say in the offseason, and I always bring this up,
14:28if you say Dak is your future quarterback and you like him where he's at,
14:31you know, he's going to make a lot of money,
14:33but those first couple years when you renegotiate that contract
14:35and give the extension, it lowers that cap value,
14:38which means you can go out and sign extra players.
14:40They didn't do that.
14:41So something leads me to believe that Dak Prescott,
14:43I do think, is going to be a Cowboy,
14:44and I would not be surprised, Ben,
14:46if he has that new long-term lucrative deal before game number one this season,
14:51but that defeats the whole purpose of what the Dallas Cowboys were trying to do.
14:54Like, they're always known that if they want to re-sign him,
14:56it's going to cost a lot of money,
14:57but if you did it in March before the free agency process begins,
15:01you can add two or three more players.
15:02Redoing him now, giving a lot of money, sure.
15:05You know what?
15:06He's not going anywhere for five years, going to play for the Dallas Cowboys,
15:08but you could have been so much more beneficial just a few months earlier.
15:11Same thing with CeeDee Lamb,
15:12getting those guys re-upped and getting those good vibes entering into the season,
15:15but you're right about this.
15:16There's a lot of guys on contracts that are unhappy with it,
15:19which includes your lame duckhead coach.
15:21Usually, it doesn't rise to the occasion.
15:23Like, man, played that perfectly.
15:25Dak had to prove his money to us.
15:27We made it to the NFC Championship game.
15:28McCarthy was sensational.
15:30He was the coach of the year.
15:31We're not getting those vibes.
15:32You know what usually happens?
15:33Dak Prescott's unhappy, upset.
15:35The team doesn't work out that well,
15:36and Mike McCarthy's fired by week number nine in this season.
15:39That's what the Dallas Cowboys are hoping to avoid.
15:41I understand the pressurized environment that you like these guys to play and say,
15:45put up or shut up.
15:45You haven't won for me yet.
15:47I'm going to wait until you win before I pay you.
15:49There's some substance to that,
15:50but Dak Prescott knows if he's average this year,
15:53he's going to be the highest paid quarterback in the history of the NFL
15:55if he's average this year.
15:57So why do we wait so long, Ben?
15:58Why not trade him before the season starts,
16:00and eventually you're going to pay him,
16:01and you already missed the window on adding more players.
16:04Well said.
16:05What is Jerry Jones hoping for?
16:07Hey, add on to these Lombardi trophies or you're gone.
16:10Nobody has done that.
16:11No quarterback.
16:12No coach.
16:13No wide receiver.
16:14No even owner has done that since 1995 for Dallas.
16:19I wonder if you selected by the question that Dak Prescott will be the Cowboys QB
16:24for the next five years.
16:25What the deal looks like.
16:27We saw Tua get a four-year deal.
16:29We saw Jordan Love get a four-year deal with 55 million dollars.
16:33Would it be a five-year extension?
16:35A four-year extension?
16:37For how much money that remains to be seen.
16:40Defense next on The Early Line.
16:43NFL Buy or Sell continues here following preseason week number two,
16:48and through the final week of the preseason.
16:51Next Monday, we'll be talking the end of training camp and game week on the
16:55horizon around the National Football League.
16:58Defense wins championships or at least hardware from the Defensive Player of
17:02the Year category.
17:04An interesting question from our producer Joe Friso, but I do enjoy it.
17:09Here are the active NFL DPOY members still around the NFL, the National
17:14Football League at this moment.
17:15Khalil Matt, of course.
17:17Stephon Gilmore just signed this weekend by Minnesota.
17:20Probably not at his Defensive Player of the Year standard, but still hoping to
17:24be a contributor for a Viking secondary that has had some issues with injuries
17:28this offseason.
17:29TJ Watt, Nick Bosa, and Myles Garrett, the last three winners of the award.
17:35So Buy or Sell, Donnie, right side.
17:37The Defensive Player of the Year will be a first-time winner.
17:42And we asked that question with Micah Parsons, who has not won the award just
17:46yet, as the favorite.
17:48I'm going to sell this.
17:49But obviously, if you're looking at the odds market, you probably should be
17:52buying.
17:53Why?
17:53Michael Parsons hasn't won this yet, and he's the favorite here at the
17:56FanDuel Sportsbook.
17:57So that does make some sense.
17:58But if you're going over some of the leaders in the clubhouse, if you will,
18:01Parsons is fantastic.
18:03Garrett's great.
18:03Watt, Crosby.
18:04What do all those guys have in common?
18:07They are pass rushers here.
18:08That's what leads, right?
18:0915-plus sacks.
18:10You're going to be in that market.
18:11You can see if all of those guys are healthy for the 18-week season, they're
18:15going to be in that range.
18:16And if anybody goes out and sets the all-time NFL record or approaches it,
18:19let's just say gets to 20, they're going to be a shoo-in.
18:22So who can actually do that?
18:23I love Michael Parsons.
18:24That guy wrecks game plans on a week-to-week basis.
18:27If you want to downgrade the Dallas Cowboys in that position and say,
18:30well, we know he's probably going to be the highest paid defensive player
18:33when it's all said and done next season, that means he is going to be in
18:36tune, Ben, for an unbelievable season.
18:38Knows that how many sacks he gets is going to be a direct impact on his
18:42bottom line.
18:42That helps.
18:43But also, do you downgrade it a little bit by saying the Philadelphia Eagles
18:46have a solid offensive line and they have a mobile quarterback in Jalen
18:49Hurts?
18:49The Washington Commanders, they have a rookie quarterback, but he's really
18:52mobile, which means it's hard to sack. And Daniel Jones, coming off that
18:55knee injury, watching him in that performance, maybe doesn't throw the
18:57football that great.
18:58He still has some legs to get away.
19:00I'm not using it saying, well, that's why you can't bat him.
19:03We're just looking for some intricacies on why might you see the pressing
19:06point, which means Michael Parsons going for a contract, which means he's
19:09going to be headhunting the entire football game as opposed to the
19:12competition that might be able to get away, where if it was a non-mobile
19:15quarterback, you might get a couple easy sacks.
19:17You take a look at Myles Garrett.
19:18He's an absolute man-child right in the middle of the mix.
19:21You know, he's going to be up there.
19:22Same thing with TJ Watt.
19:23So I look at, again, I'm not downgrading Crosby, by the way, but he is a
19:27great, great player.
19:28But also, when do you sort of pick up those sacks where you don't have to
19:32worry about the run, Ben? Winning games in the fourth quarter, up 7 to 14
19:36points, you don't have to worry about anything.
19:38How many times are the Vegas Raiders going to be up 14 to 17 points?
19:41We might be able to get an extra three or four sacks throughout the season,
19:44just headhunting quarterbacks at the end of a football game.
19:47So for my money, I do think Parsons might be the most talented overall
19:51technically, but I'm telling you right now, like a healthy Garrett and a
19:55healthy TJ Watt, they are pushing 20 sacks this year.
19:58So as much as I want to say I'm going to give it to Michael Parsons, maybe I
20:02got to sell this and say, it looks like we might have a repeat winner of this
20:06award because I just look for unbelievable seasons out of, once again,
20:09Garrett and TJ Watt.
20:11And again, I don't think that's a flawed type of thinking.
20:15Three of the five best prices are winners of this award previously.
20:20TJ Watt, Miles Garrett, who won it a year ago, and Nick Bosa alongside Max
20:25Crosby at that 10 to 1 number.
20:28I believe Michael Parsons is a justified favorite.
20:31I do not think he's going to run away with the award like, wow, yeah, for sure.
20:35It's going to be a first-time winner because Micah is the guy that is the
20:39favored number.
20:40Michael Parsons is going to be in contention for the NFL Defensive Player
20:44of the Year award.
20:45A name that you do not see in the top 10 is Aaron Donald.
20:50Three-time winner of the award, of course, retired at the end of this
20:53previous season for the L.A. Rams.
20:57So it is intriguing, right?
20:58Three of the five best prices have won the award previously, but the rest of
21:02the top 10, those seven next best prices, are not or have not won the award in
21:08years past. And Stephon Gilmore, who is now signed by Minnesota, again, adding
21:13depth to that secondary, is an anomaly.
21:16He won the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2019.
21:19He is the only guy in the last decade that did not play defensive line or
21:23edge rusher.
21:24T.J. Watt, technically an outside linebacker, but we all know what he does
21:28better than most.
21:30So when you look at guys that do not play up front, the shortest price, Kyle
21:34Hamilton, the very talented young safety, added another name for Baltimore at
21:3830-1.
21:39Yeah, what does he have to do outside there, right?
21:41You know, four or five touchdowns, pick sixes at this point, maybe lead the
21:45league in interceptions, get close to that interception mark as a record.
21:48It's just hard, because the same way we pick MVPs a lot of times in Major League
21:52Baseball, Ben, oh, look, that guy hit 64 home runs.
21:54That trumps everything here.
21:56Same thing with Sacks.
21:57Sacks trump everything.
21:58Whoever leads the league in Sacks, that's going to be the Defensive Player of the
22:01Year.
22:02Hour three, up next on The Early Line.