Daniel Jones took off with nothing but open field in front of him during a 2020 game against the Philadelphia Eagles. The deceptive speed that has made the New York Giants quarterback an effective runner allowed him to increase the distance from pursuing defenders. Then, as Jones neared the goal line for an 88-yard touchdown, he inexplicably stumbled.

With a national audience watching on “Thursday Night Football”, Jones started to lose his footing at Philadelphia’s 30-yard line. He tumbled to the ground and was tackled by an Eagles defender at the 8-yard line, to the disbelief of everyone watching.

With Jones’ benching signaling the end of his six-year run as the Giants’ starting quarterback, that play perfectly encapsulated his tenure. A flicker of promise but, ultimately, a disappointing result.

DANIEL JONES. 80-YARD RUN.

📺: #NYGvsPHI on NFLN/FOX/PRIME VIDEO
📱: https://t.co/W5bCPYgMfo pic.twitter.com/zI1GumCyn0

— NFL (@NFL) October 23, 2020

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The unofficial end of Jones’ reign came Monday when a source confirmed an NFL Network report that Jones is being benched. This move was inevitable after the Giants’ embarrassing 20-17 overtime loss to the Panthers in Germany in Week 10. Jones’ poor play was a major reason the Giants couldn’t score against the NFL’s worst defense.

With the 2-8 Giants on their bye week, this was the logical time for a quarterback change to give backup Tommy DeVito — who was chosen over No. 2 QB Drew Lock — time to prepare to take over. The Giants went 3-13 in games started by Jones over the past two seasons, and they rank last in the league in scoring this season. His career record is 24-44-1.

The official end of Jones’ time with the Giants will come sometime after the season when the team releases him two years into the four-year, $160 million extension he signed in 2023. Jones, 27, will look to revitalize his career in a new setting, while the Giants will earnestly pursue a replacement this offseason.

The boos rained down at the draft party hosted by the Giants at MetLife Stadium when Jones was announced as the sixth pick in the 2019 draft. Factors outside of Jones’ control led to the chilly greeting from the fan base.

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There was little faith in then-general manager Dave Gettleman, with many believing it was a reach to take Jones with a top-10 pick after he compiled a 17-19 record at Duke. But Jones won over fans, teammates and the rest of the organization in Week 3 of his rookie season when he replaced franchise icon Eli Manning as the starting quarterback.

Jones engineered an 18-point second-half comeback in Tampa Bay, throwing for two touchdowns and rushing for two more, including the game-winner with 1:16 remaining. But the swagger Jones showed in his debut was fleeting.

Fielding a woeful supporting cast around Jones, the Giants lost nine straight games during his rookie season. Still, he demonstrated playmaking ability under coach Pat Shurmur while throwing 24 touchdown passes, which remains the highwater mark of his career by a wide margin.

Shurmur was fired after Jones’ rookie season and replaced by Joe Judge. He and offensive coordinator Jason Garrett focused on eliminating Jones’ ball security issues after he had an NFL-high 19 fumbles as a rookie. In the process, they eliminated the young quarterback’s aggressiveness.

Jones cut back on his turnovers at the expense of throwing the ball downfield. He combined for 21 touchdown passes in two seasons under Judge and Garrett. The second season was cut short due to a neck injury that sidelined Jones for the final six games in 2021.

The coaching changes, a perennially poor offensive line and a lack of playmakers led Giants co-owner John Mara to proclaim after the 2021 season that, “We’ve done everything possible to screw this kid up.”

Jones received a clean slate when Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll replaced Gettleman and Judge, respectively, after the 2021 season. One of the new regime’s first major decisions was declining Jones’ fifth-year option for the 2023 season. That set up the 2022 season as a prove-it year for Jones.

He rose to the occasion. Using his legs more than ever, Jones engineered an efficient offense that relied on running back Saquon Barkley and opportunistic passing.

Jones still only threw for 15 touchdowns, but he added another seven rushing to lead the Giants to a surprising 9-7-1 record and their first playoff appearance in six years. Once in the postseason, Jones raised his game to an inconceivable level in a 31-24 wild-card round win at Minnesota.

The performance was treated as vindication for Mara, who declared, “We’re back,” in the victorious locker room. The mood was far more somber a week later when the Giants were steamrolled 38-7 by the Eagles in the divisional round.

Despite the bitter end to the season, the optimism about Jones within the organization was unbridled. Schoen affirmed that Jones, who was set to be an unrestricted free agent, would be back with the Giants in his season-ending news conference days after the loss to the Eagles.

That wasn’t a simple process, as Schoen tried to simultaneously negotiate with Jones and Barkley during the 2023 offseason. When Barkley wasn’t receptive to the Giants’ initial extension offers, Schoen turned his focus to Jones.

Not forgetting the fifth-year option slight, which would have locked Jones in at $22.4 million for 2023, the quarterback drove a hard bargain at the negotiating table. With talks coming down to the franchise tag deadline, the Giants and Jones agreed to a four-year, $160 million extension. The Giants immediately pivoted to tagging Barkley minutes before the deadline.

If there’s one decision Schoen could do over in his three years, it has to be that one. Rather than giving in to Barkley with a contract worth roughly $25 million guaranteed, Schoen wound up guaranteeing $82 million to Jones. Schoen was mindful of maintaining an escape hatch, however, so the Giants can cut Jones after two seasons while eating a manageable $22.2 million in dead money on the salary cap.

The worst fears of committing to Jones were realized immediately during a disastrous 2023 season. Jones went 1-5 in six starts while suffering a second neck injury that sidelined him for three games before a torn ACL in his right knee ended his season in Week 9.

With buyer’s remorse established, Schoen and Daboll extensively scouted a potential replacement in the 2024 draft. The problem was that the Giants were picking sixth and the teams with the top three picks desperately needed quarterbacks.

Schoen tried in vain to trade with the Patriots for the third pick, but New England took North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye. With Maye, USC’s Caleb Williams and LSU’s Jayden Daniels off the board, the Giants chose not to take a quarterback.

It marked the fifth straight draft since Jones was selected that the Giants didn’t add a quarterback. Instead, they used the sixth pick on LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers in the hopes that the dynamic playmaker could help unlock Jones in another make-or-break year.

Nabers has flashed his talent, but it hasn’t made a difference. Jones has proven incapable of leading a high-octane offense.

The breaking point came in Munich. Jones threw two interceptions in the red zone to kill scoring drives. His most egregious play, however, was taking a sack on a flea flicker despite Nabers and wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson running wide open on the trick play.

There’s financial incentive to sit Jones, who has made $108 million in his career, because he has a $23 million injury guarantee in his contract. If he suffers a major injury that will prevent him from passing a physical in mid-March, the Giants will be on the hook for $12 million. Another $11 million would become guaranteed at the start of next season. The savings from cutting Jones this offseason would be wiped out if the injury guarantee was triggered.

The injury guarantee is a valid reason to bench Jones, especially as he has repeatedly rammed himself into defenders on runs this season. But finances aside, the Giants simply couldn’t trot Jones out again in front of a hostile home crowd that has seen the team lose all five of its games at MetLife Stadium this season.

The Giants can no longer afford to take the financial risk of playing Jones. (Cooper Neill / Getty Images)

No one has ever questioned Jones’ intangibles. He’s tough, hard-working and an exemplary teammate.

Jones is cut from the same cloth as Manning, down to having the same personal quarterback trainer and college coach. But for all of the similarities between the quarterbacks, Jones lacks the traits that made Manning one of the best big-game quarterbacks of his era.

Jones seemed too determined to copy Manning’s ability to sidestep controversy in the New York media market. Perhaps being wound so tight can explain why Jones performed so much worse at home — 29 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in 35 career home games compared to 41 touchdowns and 17 interceptions in 35 career road games.

The Giants scored a touchdown three plays after Jones’ meme-worthy stumble four years ago, and they were in position for a rare win at Philadelphia late in the game when he floated a pass to tight end Evan Engram. A catch could have sealed the win; instead, the perfect pass slipped through Engram’s fingertips.

Jones’ stumble and Engram’s drop were representative of this forgettable six-year period. The failures weren’t all Jones’ fault, but he also wasn’t able to overcome the circumstances around him.

So Jones’ time is up in New York. The Giants are now on the clock to get it right on their next swing at a quarterback.

(Photo illustrations: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; top photo: Cooper Neill / Getty Images)

Pro wrestling is the hottest it’s been in nearly 30 years with WWE taking production levels to the next level, AEW bringing in international and veteran talent, while TNA, Major League Wrestling, Game Changer Wrestling and Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling have been among the promotions receiving increased attention in North America.

With the rise comes various styles of booking, matchmaking and storytelling. Some companies build up monthslong storylines that culminate in epic finishes, some put together once-in-a-lifetime dream matches and others make matches based on the skill sets that are available.

Most of it is wonderful to watch.

Eric Bischoff, the pro wrestling legend who worked for World Championship Wrestling at the height of the industry in the 1990s, told Fox News Digital in a recent interview what he’d like to see more of in the sport.

“I think in order for any form of entertainment, whether its wrestling, movies, hell, books, even infomercials for that matter, the storytelling is everything, and the characters, the character development,” Bischoff said. “So, I would like to see more emphasis put on storytelling and perhaps less emphasis put on some of the ‘highly athletic and very fun-to-watch wrestlers inside of the ring.’ When the moves don’t mean anything, and they don’t really create any emotion, that’s like watching gymnastics floor exercise for me.”

Of course, Bischoff added, that’s no disrespect to gymnasts and their athleticism, which he greatly appreciates.

Eric Bischoff (Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for SiriusXM/File)

JOHN CENA TO COMPETE IN 2025 ROYAL RUMBLE EVENT AS WWE LEGEND EMBARKS ON FAREWELL TOUR

“But when it comes to professional wrestling, what always worked are good guys, bad guys, good girls, bad girls, a story behind it. It allows the audience to identify and live kind of vicariously through the characters,” he said. “And I think the more sophisticated the stories become and [disciplined] they become, the greater the product becomes, the interest in the product. We’ve seen that over the years.

“The ‘Monday Night Wars’ was all about great storytelling and great characters, and I’d like to see that level of intensity when it comes to storytelling. It exists across all the different wrestling organizations, not just one. I think WWE is undoubtedly doing a fantastic job when it comes to storytelling and the results prove that.

“I think there’s such a great opportunity for other companies to find their own way. It’s not like copying the WWE, but there’s a million ways to tell 2 million different stories. And I think if a commitment is made to the stories and the characters in them, I think the opportunity for growth in any wrestling company is right there at your fingertips.”

Bischoff will have another chance to embark on another storytelling journey with Major League Wrestling’s One Shot pay-per-view on Dec. 5.

WWE superstar Jey Uso rallies the fans during his entrance. (Dylan Azari/Special to the Telegram & Gazette/USA TODAY NETWORK/File)

He will have creative control of the show and will donate his paycheck to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Welcome back to the Monday Tennis Briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories from the past week on court.

This week, Jannik Sinner further stamped his authority on men’s tennis by winning the ATP Tour Finals against Taylor Fritz. Elsewhere, the Billie Jean King Cup took center stage on the women’s tour and Nick Kyrgios announced his return to the sport.

If you’d like to follow our fantastic tennis coverage, click here.

The end to a season Iga Swiatek needed?

She split with her coach, breaking up a partnership that won four Grand Slams.

She lost her No. 1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka.

She lost a match to Coco Gauff, in a rivalry she leads 12-2.

Then Iga Swiatek went to the Billie Jean King Cup in Malaga to play team tennis for Poland and got back on track. She battled back from dropping several healthy leads against Linda Noskova, who knocked her out of the Australian Open in January, then walked on court 30 minutes after that with Katarzyna Kawa for a 6-2, 6-4 win over Marie Bouzkova and doubles world No. 1 Katerina Siniakova to beat the Czech Republic 2-1 and move into the semifinals.

Swiatek skipped the past two editions to recover from the WTA Tour Finals. A flourish of wins and camaraderie in Malaga appears to be just what the doctor ordered at the start of her new partnership with Wim Fissette.

Matt Futterman

Will rankings help Great Britain at the Billie Jean King Cup?

Great Britain’s doubles players Heather Watson and Olivia Nicholls have been spectators at the Billie Jean King Cup.

Britain have beaten Germany and 2023 champions Canada 2-0 with all four victories in straight sets — thanks to the excellent performances of singles players Katie Boulter and Emma Raducanu.

The pair are No. 24 and No. 58 in the world but their rankings would be closer were it not for Raducanu’s various injuries over the last few years. They play to a very similar level and both raise their game in a team environment.

Emma Raducanu has thrived in the Billie Jean King Cup in 2024. (Fran Santiago / Getty Images for ITF)

Great Britain’s singles team effectively features two players worthy of top singles billing, a handy advantage when the second-tier players by world ranking go head-to-head in the opening rubber of a tie. Raducanu led off for Great Britain against Germany and Canada and was a level above her opponent. She thrashed world No. 91 Jule Niemeier 6-2, 6-2 in the win over Germany on Friday and then beat Canada’s world No. 103 Rebecca Marino 6-0, 7-5. Boulter followed up with straight-sets victories of her own.

Next up for Britain is a semifinal on Tuesday against Team USA’s conquerors Slovakia, with world No. 41 Rebecca Sramkova in remarkable form. If Boulter and Raducanu keep playing the way they are then Watson and Nicholls will remain as active on the Malaga match court as the rest of us watching.

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Emma Raducanu has done all-or-nothing tennis. Now, can she just play?

Charlie Eccleshare

How do the ATP Tour Finals affect the Australian Open?

The biggest knock-on from the men’s tour finals to the first Grand Slam of 2025 probably happened before the event started in Turin, Italy. When Novak Djokovic decided not to play — and to relinquish his 1,300 ranking points as defending champion — he sealed his fate of falling outside the top four seeds in Melbourne, making him a pretty nightmarish quarterfinal opponent for anyone in that top four if he goes deep in Australia, the major he has won more than any other.

The rest of men’s tennis has roughly two months to obsess about how far ahead of them Jannik Sinner is. Carlos Alcaraz is excused after beating Sinner three times out of three in 2024 and winning the two majors that Sinner did not, but the Italian’s destruction of the field on Turin’s hard court made plain what all of them have sensed: the era of tennis as chess is on hiatus.

Casper Ruud, a three-time Grand Slam finalist, has declared himself a dinosaur at 25.

“I’m not going to start playing a different style of tennis now,” he said in a news conference in Turin.

“I need to flatten out the shots more. From defense, especially on hard court, I need to take a bit more risk.”

A few other strays: Alex de Minaur knows he needs to take a break and get healthy. Taylor Fritz is going to feel very good about a potential match-up with Alexander Zverev. Alcaraz will kiss the ground knowing that he will be playing an outdoor tournament.

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Matt Futterman

What does Nick Kyrgios have in store for tennis?

While the best players in the world were duking it out in Turin last week, Nick Kyrgios announced that his on-court comeback is imminent.

Kyrgios hasn’t played competitively since reaching the 2022 U.S. Open quarterfinals because of serious knee and wrist injuries, but he has pencilled in a return to tennis at next month’s Brisbane International, one of the tune-up tournaments for the Australian Open. Kyrgios, 29, also intends to compete at his home Grand Slam in January.

“This is probably the best I’ve felt in two years,” Kyrgios said in an interview with Australian broadcaster 9News as he announced his comeback.

“It was a 15 percent chance that I was going to get back to playing at this level and here we are.

“To get back out there in front of the home fans is going to be sick.”

Kyrgios, who also reached the Wimbledon final and won the men’s doubles at the Australian Open in 2022, may struggle to make a major impact straight away, but he could play a big part in Melbourne as a disruptor; no one will want to face him in front of his home fans in the early rounds.

Some of the wider tennis community will also have misgivings about his return. In early 2023, Kyrgios pleaded guilty to assaulting former girlfriend Chiara Passari in 2021, but was not convicted. In March this year, he suggested in a post on X that Sinner should be “gone for two years” following his two positive tests for clostebol, an anabolic steroid; in September 2024, Kyrgios was criticized for writing “second serve” under a picture of himself and Sinner’s girlfriend, top-20 WTA player Anna Kalinskaya.

Ridiculous – whether it was accidental or planned. You get tested twice with a banned (steroid) substance… you should be gone for 2 years. Your performance was enhanced. Massage cream…. Yeah nice 🙄 https://t.co/13qR0F9nH2

— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) August 20, 2024

Kyrgios, who has been praised for his analysis as a broadcaster for ESPN and the BBC at the Grand Slam tournaments during his lay-off — including interviewing WTA players on court in post-match interviews — was fined $10,000 in 2015 after on-court microphones picked up the Australian telling Stan Wawrinka that Thanasi Kokkinakis had “banged his girlfriend” during a Rogers Cup match in Montreal, Canada.

Kyrgios later apologized for the remark on Facebook, writing: “My comments were made in the heat of the moment and were unacceptable on many levels.”

Charlie Eccleshare

Shot of the week

Viktoria Hruncakova slingshotting Slovakia into the last four in Malaga.

Power 🆙

Unbelievable shot from Hruncakova🔥#BJKCup pic.twitter.com/sGrNuVFLdG

— Billie Jean King Cup (@BJKCup) November 17, 2024

Recommended reading:

🏆 The winners of the week

🎾 ATP: 

🏆 Jannik Sinner (1) def. Taylor Fritz (5) 6-4, 6-4 to win the ATP Tour Finals in Turin. It is the Italian’s eighth title of 2024.
🏆 Kevin Krawietz / Tim Puetz (8) def. Marcelo Arevalo / Mate Pavic (1) 7-6(5), 7-6(6) to win the ATP Tour Finals in Turin. It is the German pair’s third ATP title together.
🏆 Alexander Blockx def. Jurij Rodionov 6-3, 6-1 to win the Hyogo Noah Challenger (Challenger 100) in Kobe, Japan. It is the Belgian’s first ATP title.
🏆 Ethan Quinn def. Nishesh Basavareddy 6-3, 6-1 to win the Paine Schwartz Partners Challenger (Challenger 75) in Champaign, Il. It is the American’s first ATP title.

📈📉 On the rise / Down the line

📈 Fritz moves up one place to No. 4 in the world, a career-high ranking, while Casper Ruud moves up to No. 6 ahead of Novak Djokovic.
📈 Caroline Garcia benefits from compatriot Diane Parry dropping 56 ranking points, moving up one place and returning to the top 50.
📈 Blockx reaches a career-high of No. 204, up 45 places from No. 249.

📉 Daniil Medvedev falls one place from No. 4 to No. 5; Djokovic falls from No. 6 to No. 7.
📉 Harriet Dart drops out of the top 100, falling 13 places from No. 88 to No. 101.

📅 Coming up

🎾 ATP 

📍Malaga, Spain: Davis Cup featuring Rafael Nadal, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz.
📍Rovereto, Italy: Citta’ Di Rovereto (Challenger 100) featuring Borna Coric, Martin Landaluce, Luca Nardi, Dino Prizmic.
📍Montemar, Spain: Il Montemar (Challenger 75) featuring Fabio Fognini, Sumit Nagal, Pablo Carreno Busta, Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

📺 UK: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel 💻 Tennis TV, Challenger TV

🎾 WTA

📍Malaga, Spain: Billie Jean King Cup featuring Iga Swiatek, Emma Raducanu, Jasmine Paolini, Rebecca Sramkova.
📍Colina, Chile: LP Open (125) featuring Robin Montgomery, Mayar Sherif, Suzan Lamens, Chloe Paquet.
📍Charleston, South Carolina: Fifth Third Charleston (125), featuring Renata Zarazua, Alycia Parks, Iva Jovic, Varvara Lepchenko.

💻 WTA Unlocked

Tell us what you noticed this week in the comments below as the men’s and women’s tours continue.

(Top photo: Angel Martinez / Getty Images; Design: Eamonn Dalton)