Sports
The Daniel Jones era is over. Giants bench QB who could never find his footing in New York
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.
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📱: https://t.co/W5bCPYgMfo pic.twitter.com/zI1GumCyn0— NFL (@NFL) October 23, 2020
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.
Giants fans booed after the team drafted Jones with the No. 6 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. (Michael Wade / Icon Sportswire)
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)
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Baltimore Orioles manager Craig Albernaz was involved in a terrifying moment during the team’s victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night.
Albernaz was struck by a line drive off the bat of Orioles second baseman Jeremiah Jackson in the fifth inning. The ball hit the manager’s left cheek and he left to be looked at by the team’s medical staff.
Baltimore Orioles manager Craig Albernaz talks to media in the dugout before a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Chicago on April 8, 2026. (Nam Y. Huh/AP)
Albernaz briefly returned to the game after Jackson hit a grand slam to help the Orioles to the 9-7 win.
“He’s doing good. Just as a precaution, he’s going to get it scanned,” Orioles bench coach Donnie Ecker said.
Jackson said he had a sunken feeling when he saw Albernaz in pain after the errant liner.
“I hit and then I kind of saw Alby holding his face. My heart kind of dropped,” Jackson said. “I was able to see him afterward and see he was doing OK.”
AVALANCHE COACH TAKES PUCK TO THE FACE, WILL MISS FINAL REGULAR-SEASON GAMES
Baltimore Orioles manager Craig Albernaz stands on the field before the game against the San Francisco Giants at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Md., on Apr. 10, 2026. (Mitch Stringer/Imagn Images)
“Knowing he was OK helped. It made me feel a little bit better,” Jackson added. “I’m just happy he’s doing OK and in good spirits.”
Albernaz and Jackson embraced after the infielder hit the big home run in the sixth inning.
“That was awesome,” Jackson said of the impromptu embrace from his manager. “You never want to hurt anybody, and Alby’s awesome. It sucked. But he wore it well and he’s in good spirits so it made me feel better.”
Albernaz is in his first year as Baltimore’s manager. He served as a bench coach and assistant manager for the Cleveland Guardians in 2024 and 2025.
Baltimore Orioles’ Jeremiah Jackson rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the eighth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Baltimore on April 13, 2026. (Stephanie Scarbrough/AP)
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Baltimore improved to 9-7 with the win and are tied with the New York Yankees for first place in the American League East.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Jerry West’s legend was so well established when he retired from the Los Angeles Lakers in 1974 that he’d already been the inspiration for the NBA’s logo. Half a century later, West remains seventh all-time in points per game and holds the points-per-game record for a playoff series, numbers even more remarkable because he did it without the three-point shot.
But, of course, West wasn’t done. As a scout and general manager, he was a key architect of the Showtime Lakers teams of the 1980s and later acquired both Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal to build another dynasty. West also was an executive for the Golden State Warriors in their heyday, providing crucial advice on player personnel.
Through it all, however, West struggled with depression and a sense of self-loathing, and had trouble with intimacy, much of it a by-product of a hardscrabble childhood in West Virginia with a domineering father.
That dichotomy, his outer success and inner turmoil, are the heart of “Jerry West: The Logo,” a new documentary for Prime Video, from “black-ish” creator Kenya Barris, directing his first documentary.
Kenya Barris in “Jerry West: The Logo.”
(Prime)
“I’m from L.A. and was a fan of the Showtime Lakers growing up,” Barris says, so he put his name in for the project figuring he’d at least get to meet a hero. “But we immediately hit it off and I felt a kinship with him.”
That ability to connect was part of West’s magic, as attested to by the string of NBA legends who pay tribute to him in the documentary, including Lakers such as Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Pat Riley and O’Neal, along with Steph Curry and Michael Jordan.
Vlade Divac was traded by West to secure the rights to Bryant, but he selected West to introduce him at his Hall of Fame induction. In a recent phone interview, Divac praised West as “a father figure when you needed it and a friend when you needed it. He was very honest and he cared about people and helped you achieve your goals. He’s one of the best guys I ever met. Period.”
Barris, who did extensive interviews with West before the Laker icon died in 2024, spoke by video recently about making the documentary, which also includes NBA Commissioner Adam Silver acknowledging for the first time that West was the sport’s logo. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Jerry had already opened up about his life in his memoir, “West by West,” but do you think this was still cathartic for him?
His book really drew me to doing the documentary because it was so honest. I think the idea of him actually saying these things out loud in front of a camera with his kids and his grandkids around was a catharsis for him.
Did he feel he was nearing the end?
Jerry would say, “I feel like I’m in God’s waiting room.” He didn’t like getting old because he was so much in touch with his body as an athlete — he could jump higher and run farther than his friends. When I first met him, he was on the treadmill and jogging with weights. He was in his 80s but was saying, “I used to be able to jog with more weights.”
He was feeling old but I don’t think that he thought he was about to pass.
Was he annoyed by his depiction in HBO’s Lakers series “Winning Time,” which generated controversy in 2022?
The show was entertaining, but it really bothered him and he didn’t think it was fair. I think that series might’ve pushed him into wanting to do this, if I’m being completely honest.
“Jerry would say, ‘I feel like I’m in God’s waiting room,’” said director Kenya Barris, who conducted extensive interviews with the Lakers legend before his death in 2024.
(Prime)
He and his family talk openly on camera about his mental health issues. Was it hard to balance that tonally with his great accomplishments in basketball?
I did not want to make something that was morose or a melodrama. But it would not be complete if he didn’t talk about the struggles. When I first met him, he was just coming out of a depression and anyone who’s ever been through that understands that it is actually a struggle. So forming a whole picture of who this character was was really important. And also it was important for his family because they lived through this with him as well. They were sad to see him suffer, but they had suffered through it too.
We wanted to really talk about who this character was and what formed him. Most of who we are is formed between the ages of 0 and 12 and in those years, Jerry saw a lot and went through a lot of stuff.
When his older brother was killed in Korea and his father put the casket by the Christmas tree …
That was crazy. If we could get the audience to understand who this man was, it would give them empathy for everything after.
As a GM [general manager], he was a white guy in this predominantly Black sport, but he came in with a chip on his shoulder, too, and he saw these young players who hadn’t had strong father figures and came from socioeconomically deprived places like he did and he was able to build real relationships with them.
He didn’t want to talk about it a lot in the doc, but he did a lot for civil rights and for players’ advocacy of the NBA, for the Black players, who didn’t have the same voice that he had. But he did it quietly.
Jerry West signed Shaquille O’Neal to the Lakers in 1996 after four years with the Orlando Magic. (Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
Jerry West, left, Kobe Bryant and Lakers head coach Del Harris in 1997. Bryant was acquired in a trade for Vlade Divac. (Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images)
One thing the documentary avoids is the contentious relationship with Phil Jackson — who isn’t even mentioned — and the cause of West’s departure from the Lakers right after he built that dynasty. Did he not want to discuss it?
We spoke about it. You can’t have that long a career and not rack up some controversial things. But I did not want this to be a salacious look at the negative accounts. I got in there the idea of a strain with the Lakers, but I wanted to make sure to not defile that relationship based upon certain things that I wasn’t going to dig into. It was not a gotcha sort of documentary. It was more of a tribute to him.
People have wondered if he had stayed on, whether he could have stopped the relationship between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal from going south, and I would have been interested to know what he thought.
We did talk about that. He believes that he could have got them to stay together and he said that he believes they could have gone on and won four or five more championships.
Sports
Mike Breen says fans ‘deserve to be thrown a bone’ as NBA cuts all local broadcasts from the playoffs
NBA playoffs begin, Will anyone stop the Thunder? | The Herd
The NBA playoffs are underway, with the Play-In tournament starting tomorrow. The Oklahoma City Thunder are the heavy favorite to repeat as champions. Colin Cowherd asks if the San Antonio Spurs, Boston Celtics, or anyone else can stop the Thunder.
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Mike Breen, the New York Knicks’ play-by-play announcer and star NBA voice with ESPN, is not happy with a key league move heading into the NBA Playoffs.
And he didn’t hold back his frustrations during the Knicks’ regular-season finale on Sunday night.
For the first time in NBA history, all local network broadcasts are being pushed out of the playoffs for nationally televised games. Those networks paid a premium to air the playoffs, but the league had always allowed the local home broadcast to be aired as well as the national TV spots in previous seasons.
ESPN play-by-play sports commentator Mike Breen looks on prior to the game between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center on Feb. 25, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Celtics defeated the 76ers 110-107. (Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
Breen, alongside his longtime partner, Knicks great Walt “Clyde” Frazier, ripped the league’s decision on the final day of his broadcasting duties for the Eastern Conference squad.
“First time ever that no longer can the home team announcers and broadcasters televise the first round,” Breen mentioned during the 110-96 loss to the Charlotte Hornets while broadcasting on MSG.
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“The entire playoffs are exclusive to national TV broadcasters. I mentioned this earlier this season. I think, personally, Clyde, it’s a poor decision. Fans want to hear their home team announcers, at least in the first round. For so many of us, they become part of the family.”
Breen added that he understands “the networks pay a fortune for exclusivity,” granted he works for one of those networks on ESPN.
“But fans deserve to be thrown a bone once in a while in terms of letting the home team have a little bit of the first round,” he continued.
The NBA reached a whopping $76 billion broadcast rights deal that kicked in at the start of this season, and it will last for the next 11 seasons. Like other pro sports leagues, the deal is carved out across various platforms, both long-standing networks and streaming.
ESPN play-by-play announcer Mike Breen calls the game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, on Jan. 17, 2024. (Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports)
While the NBA got together the deal it liked with Disney, Amazon and NBCUniversal, Breen hopes it would consider working something out to get local broadcasters back into the fold for the playoffs.
However, he knows how the business is at the end of the day.
“Somehow, if there’s any way they can work out some kind of compromise, I’m not hopeful for that, but it would be wonderful to have it because this is our final telecast of the season,” Breen said.
Breen, now, will focus on his ESPN duties as the lead commentator for the “Worldwide Leader” on the court. His famous “Bang!” call on clutch three-pointers has been synonymous with the biggest moments in the NBA Playoffs for years now, and that will get started very soon as teams in both the East and West gun for their shot at the Larry O’Brien Trophy and to call themselves NBA Finals champions.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, the reigning Finals champs, are the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference once again, while teams like the San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers will battle them to be crowned conference champions.
Mike Breen looks on before the game between the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers during Round 2 Game 3 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals 2023 NBA Playoffs on May 6, 2023 at Crypto.Com Arena in Los Angeles, California. (Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images)
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In the East, Breen’s Knicks own the No. 3 seed, while the Detroit Pistons (No. 1) and Boston Celtics (No. 2) had successful regular-season campaigns to earn a top spot heading into the playoffs.
The Play-In Tournament will be the first games for the NBA Playoffs, which will stream exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. Then, the first round will split its tipoffs on NBC/Peacock, Prime Video and ESPN.
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