Jul 27, 2023; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (8) and general manager Joe Schoen, left, on day two of training camp at the Quest Diagnostics Training Facility. Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports

Having been a quarterback in the NFL and a vested veteran in the media since his playing days, Boomer Esiason knows a thing or two about what conversations related to the most important position in the league look like. And thanks to the new offseason edition of HBO’s Hard Knocks, which gives viewers unprecedented access to front-office decisions, those at home can also begin to understand what those conversations look like.

He and Gregg Giannotti are at the epicenter of New York sports, owning the 6-10 a.m. slot on WFAN weekdays, so they would always discuss New York Giants football. But the fact that they’re the second New York team in a calendar year to give access to HBO means more inside information that radio hosts across the country—not just New York—can talk about during the dog days of summer.

What caught Esiason’s eye in the most recent episode was the tone of the Giants and general manager Joe Schoen’s discussion of the quarterback position. It’s not what they said about Daniel Jones or Drew Lock, for that matter; it’s what wasn’t said about the incumbent starter.

“The moment that Joe Schoen goes over to New England and says what he says, and the moment they’re interviewing quarterbacks, they’re not really talking about Daniel Jones, but they really are talking about Daniel Jones,” Esiason said via Audacy. “Because they don’t know what to expect from Daniel Jones.

“You look at the injuries…you then take what Joe Buck said during one of their games when Brian Daboll was lamenting to Joe Buck that he has to be the energy and needs his quarterback to be the energy, and then you take what Rich Eisen said about the Giants being done with Daniel Jones, essentially, they’re stuck with Daniel Jones. As I’m sitting here this morning, that’s how I look at it.”

That’s one way to look at it. And with the Giants being “stuck” with Jones, it’s understandable that excuses would start to be made for his shortcomings. Jones has missed 21 total games due to injury in five seasons in the NFL. He was already prone to injury before being placed behind a historically bad offensive line decimated with injuries. One that Schoen said even Patrick Mahomes couldn’t succeed behind.

Schoen might not be giving up on Jones, but much of that could be due to his price tag. That didn’t prevent the Giants from flirting with some of the 2024 NFL Draft quarterback prospects, as pre-draft rumors indicated that New York was interested in potentially trading up to the draft someone along the lines of Drake Maye. And based on how head coach Brian Daboll fawned over the New England Patriots rookie quarterback in pre-draft meetings, it stands to reason that New York seriously considered looking at life beyond Jones.

“I was surprised at the level of which the Giants were testing the quarterbacks and interviewing the quarterbacks,” Esiason said. “And walking into the Patriots room.”

Thanks to this new edition of Hard Knocks, fans can now be armchair general managers alongside Esiason and analysts like him. This unprecedented access adds a whole new dimension to sports radio discussions, especially during the typically quiet summer months.

With the Giants’ quarterback situation hanging in the balance, all eyes will be on Jones to prove he can be the leader the team craves.

[Audacy]

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.