$40 Million Aside, New York Giants Should Bench ‘Danny Dimes’ This Weekend

ESPN's Adam Schefter has reported that New York Giants' QB Daniel Jones did not practice on Wednesday. He is considered day-to-day with a neck injury.

Now, this is a different neck injury than the one that knocked Jones out for the final few games of the 2021 season, but any neck injury should be taken very seriously. A serious injury in that area can impact an athlete for the rest of their life, which means that Jones and the Giants need to be extremely careful as he begins his recovery.

Whether Jones is medically cleared to play on Sunday, or not, the team would be wise to keep him on the bench this week for multiple reasons.

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$40 Million Contract or Not, Daniel Jones Needs to Sit vs. Bills This Week

This is solely my opinion, both as a fan of the New York Giants and a Daniel Jones apologist: 'Danny Dimes' should be on the bench this weekend, when the Giants take on the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium.

Now, if he's not medically cleared to play, then the decision is taken out of Brian Daboll's hands. Even if he is cleared, though, will it be worth it?

For example, he'll still have to line up behind an offensive line that performed like this in Week 5:

That offensive line will try to protect Jones from the Bills' pash rush, which has recorded 21 sacks this season, three full sacks more than the defensive unit ranked 2nd in that category.

Plus, Andrew Thomas and Saquon Barkley have also not been practicing this week, and trusted receiving options Darren Waller and Wan'Dale Robinson have missed practice, as well.

There's one other element that I want to mention, too: Daniel Jones looked off last week.

Jones is never going to be the sharpest or most consistent QB in the league, but he's turned in a few high-quality performances in the last year-plus (the second half vs. Cardinals, and the Giants' playoff win vs. Vikings, to name a few).

He's capable of far more than he's shown over the last two weeks. Every time he dropped back to pass against Miami, it looked like he was just waiting to be hit. There was zero confidence in his own ability to throw the ball, and he put on a poor passing display as a result.

I completely understand the other side of this argument: you're paying him $40 million, he can't be benched if he's healthy.

Believe me, I'm not happy about the situation Jones and the Giants are in right now. That said, you're not going to beat this Buffalo Bills' team no matter who plays QB, so why make the situation with Daniel Jones worse in the short-term, when you can instead start to improve it in the long-term.

It's a decision that will draw plenty of ire from the fanbase, but for the sake of the future of the team, it's one that Giants' leadership needs to make.