New York Giants Great Tiki Barber Gives His Prediction On Team's Future With Daniel Jones At QB And Brian Daboll As Head Coach

Tiki Barber // Credit: USA Today Sports

New York Giants great Tiki Barber has Daniel Jones' back.

The 27-year-old quarterback has faced a rash of scrutiny during his six seasons in New York, especially following his four-year, $160 million contract signing. The former first-round draft pick went 1-5 during his six starts in 2023 before suffering a season-ending torn ACL injury.

Jones lost his first two games of the 2024 season, but he gained his first win in Week 3 – his first since Sep. 17 of last year – in an efficient performance over the Cleveland Browns, going 24-for-34 for 236 passing yards, a 70.6% completion rate and a 109.4 passer rating. His passer rating was his highest single-game total since Week 17 of the 2022 season.

Barber – who is speaking on behalf of IBM's new roster management tools in ESPN fantasy football leagues – came to Jones' defense during a one-on-one interview just prior to Jones' Week 3 game against the Browns.

"The reason I feel for him is when you think about his career – this is now his sixth season – he comes in as a rookie," Barber tells RG.org in an interview about Jones. "He's immediately replacing a legend in Eli Manning, who is going to be a Hall of Famer. And the pressure on a young quarterback to replace that guy – while he's still in that room – Eli was there, was hard. And then the coaching change happens and all of a sudden, you have to prove it to a new coach. And then another coaching change happens, you have to prove it again. You get your contract here and you're proving it. You get paid after having a good season in 2022, but nobody says you're worth it."

Jones – who was the sixth pick in the 2019 NFL Draft – replaced Manning, a two-time Super Bowl champion and Giants legend, as the starting quarterback during his rookie season. While the dual-threat passer has obviously had some bright moments as the team's franchise quarterback – he led the Giants to a playoff appearance and win in 2022 – he has largely faltered in that role. Jones is 23-38-1 as the team's starting quarterback.

His $160 million contract obviously doesn't help matters when it comes to criticism from the media and the fan base.

Entering the 2025 offseason, there is a possible out in Jones' contract that will allow the Giants to cut ties with the quarterback. New York can move on from Jones while absorbing just a $22.2 million dead cap hit over the final two seasons of his deal.

While Jones' future in New York is certainly up in the air, Barber doesn't believe that the Giants will target a quarterback in the high rounds of next year's draft to replace Jones.

"I don't think in the high rounds of the draft," Barber says when asked if the Giants will draft a new quarterback in the first or second round. "Free agency is going to be interesting next year with some of these quarterbacks that could become available. I do think if the Giants are bad – like first overall pick bad – they'll target a quarterback, because that means that all things have gone wrong.

I do think that they will target a quarterback, it depends on how high it is. It's to be determined. It's interesting, because we feel like you have to draft a quarterback high in order to be successful. I think the reality is – we've seen this in multiple places – it's the circumstances that a quarterback oges into that is more determinate about their success."

While the Giants could still be seeking their new franchise quarterback next offseason, Barber doesn't believe any change will happen in the head coaching ranks. The former running back believes Brian Daboll's job is safe and that he'll be back for a fourth season as New York seeks stability.

Barber argues that the "culture" that Daboll built in 2022 when he won Coach of the Year is still "strong" in New York.

"I think that the culture that Daboll built in year one is still strong," says Barber. "As long as they play hard, the formula is there. They just have to get better together. I'm biased. I don't want to see the turnover. I don't like that in organizations, because it's just really hard to keep starting over. The Giants have had a history of two years out, this would be three years out (for Daboll). I think the organization needs some stability."

After emerging with their first win of the 2024 season, the Giants will seek their first divisional win of the year when they host their NFC East rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, on Thursday Night Football in Week 4.