Daniel Jones listed on 'hot seat' for Giants over Saquon Barkley

The simple truth of the matter is that New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley are both facing make-or-break NFL seasons.

Both are in the final years of their rookie contracts after the Giants declined the fifth-year option attached to Jones' deal earlier this spring, and the organization spent first-round draft picks on the pair long before ownership made Joe Schoen the club's general manager and before Schoen chose Brian Daboll as his head coach this past winter. 

Per a plethora of predictions, the 2022 Giants will likely lose more games than they win. In power rankings shared early Tuesday morning, ESPN had Big Blue all the way down at No. 28 overall. For that same piece, Giants insider Jordan Raanan explained why he mentioned Jones and not Barkley as his "hot seat" individual attached to the club during the final weeks of the summer months. 

"I could easily have gone with Saquon Barkley here, considering this year is his last chance to convince anyone he is worth a significant second contract," Raanan noted. "But Jones is the quarterback, and he had the fifth-year option in his rookie contract declined this offseason. No more excuses, either, as this is his last chance to prove to the Giants that he is their franchise quarterback now that he is working in new coach Brian Daboll's offense."

Barkley surprised some when he hit out at critics of his running style last week and declared he was "fed up with people who never played a position and try to speak on how I run a position" and sick of so-called "All-Pros with clickers in their hand." Jones, meanwhile, raised eyebrows when he admitted he underwent a supposed "non-football-related procedure" on his neck over the winter that allegedly had nothing to do with the neck strain that cost him the final six games of last season. 

Meanwhile, the Giants were recently linked with current Pittsburgh Steelers QB1 Mitchell Trubisky as an eventual replacement for Jones due to Trubisky's relationship with Daboll. Trubisky served as a backup for the Buffalo Bills last season while Daboll was the club's offensive coordinator.