With new contract and new playmakers, Daniel Jones poised to take Giants to next level

In subtle ways, Daniel Jones seems like a new man this spring. More comfortable. More secure. More certain.

The signing of a four-year, $160 million contract in the offseason could have that effect. So could stability and a plethora of offensive weapons.

Jones knows these Giants can win. But will they?

In the second year of the partnership of coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen, the Giants seem to have many of the pieces of the puzzle. Finally.

And Jones, in his fifth season, is at the center of that. He has to be.

“I’ve been very impressed with Daniel,” new tight end Darren Waller said Thursday. “Arm talent, intelligence, funny guy. He’s got a lot of personality that you really get to see once you get to know him some more. It’s been fun, man. Getting extra throwing sessions in, workout in the weight room. A lot of jokes. Just having lunch together. You can tell guys are really close around here, and he kind of leads that energy.”

The feeling is mutual. Asked what the veteran Waller can bring to the offense, Jones said, “A lot.”

“He’s obviously a tough matchup for people, for defenses, with a guy who can run like that with that kind of size, and how you play him in man and how you account for him in zone coverages,” Jones said. “He definitely gives something for a defense to worry about or to game plan for, and we can move him around and put him in different spots. Just a super-versatile player.”

Imagine Waller on the field with Saquon Barkley and receivers Isaiah Hodgins, Wan’Dale Robinson and Jalin Hyatt. Or Waller, Barkley and tight end Daniel Bellinger. Or Parris Campbell, Darius Slayton, Hyatt and Robinson.

The point: The Giants have options, plenty of them. And that should help the quarterback.

This upcoming season, Jones has to be a consistent reason why the Giants win. Waller also should be a pivotal player in that regard.

“You hear about most guys and they’re listed in the program as 6-6 when they’re really like 6-4 or 6-5,” Jones said. “But [Waller] is like a true 6-6 and he’s a true 250, 260 [pounds] and he can fly, and he can run all the routes. And he has been locked in. You can tell it’s important to him. He’s put a lot of effort into learning stuff and getting caught up, and it has been fun working with him.”

Waller caught 90 passes in 2019 and 107 in 2020, but his past two years with the Raiders were injury-plagued. He has the potential to give Jones and the Giants the kind of target they haven’t had in years.

The Giants went 8-4-1 last season in games decided by one score. The margins were slim. The Giants’ margins in those games needs some work. They were last in the league in explosive plays.

Pro Football Focus recently deemed Jones the 17th-best starter in the league. Part of PFF’s rationale: Jones’ inability to put the ball in the perfect spot for the receiver to catch it without breaking stride. It stands to reason that with better, more efficient pass-catchers, that ranking could improve. Jones finished 2022 with only 15 touchdown passes, another number that this current Giants team should surpass, perhaps with relative ease.

This spring, of course, has brought changes for Jones. For one, he is working with a new center, rookie John Michael Schmitz. Jones called Schmitz “a smart guy” and said working with him has been “great” and “fun.”

The one missing piece has been Jones’ close friend, Barkley, who remains in a contract impasse. Jones said he speaks “pretty regularly” with the running back.

“Obviously, Saquon is a close friend of mine, and he’s been a very important part of what we’ve done here, and he’s a tremendous part of this offense,” Jones said. “I hope they can get something done. He’s been a great teammate to everybody in the locker room. I think that says a lot about him as a guy.”

By Kimberly Jones

kimberly.jones@newsday.comkimjonessports

Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.