Giants expecting Brian Daboll to ‘get the most out of’ Daniel Jones

There appears to be more agreement on Daniel Jones’ bright future than on which gum four out of five dentists are recommending these days.

Giants co-owner John Mara said Monday that he “would be very surprised” if Jones is not the Week 1 starting quarterback, which amounts to a vote of confidence before new head coach Brian Daboll ever sees Jones practice. So, five days after ruling out a trade with the Texans for the troubled Deshaun Watson, Mara essentially threw cold water on trading for the Seahawks’ Russell Wilson or drafting a first-round quarterback.

“A big part of Brian’s job is going to be to try to get the most out of Daniel and put us in a position where we can make a fair evaluation of him,” Mara said. “We haven’t been able to do that so far because of the way we’ve handled him.”

Mara’s faith also answers another question by revealing that Jones’ career isn’t in jeopardy because of the mysterious neck injury that caused him to miss the final six games of last season. He could not gain medical clearance to return to contact.

“Our medical people are very confident that the neck injury will be a nonfactor,” Mara said.

Mara claimed that all 15 candidates interviewed for general manager (nine) and head coach (six) were “positive about Daniel.” NBC Sports reported Monday that one of the potential GMs (not Joe Schoen) was not in favor of Jones.

“They’re not willing to say that they think he’s going to be the next Patrick Mahomes,” Mara said in reference to the Chiefs superstar, “but they were excited about the potential he has and the possibility of working with him. That, to me, was reassuring because that’s the way we feel as well.”

If Daboll needed any reassurances, it likely would be that his future is not tied to Jones. Daboll’s predecessor Joe Judge inherited Jones, was promised patience and was fired after two seasons. So, what if Jones does not succeed as envisioned, and the Giants are back on the quarterback hunt in 2023? Will Daboll be around to identify the successor?

“I would say yes,” Mara said. “Daniel will get a chance next year. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll go to Plan B. But we have a lot of confidence that it will work out.”