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Daniel Jones first showed grit with Senior Bowl comeback story

MOBILE, Ala. — There was a time not very long ago when Daniel Jones came here looking to raise his stock for the NFL draft, and the early returns on his work were, well, not anything anyone would put in the “Help Yourself’’ category.

Rather than make a good first impression, Jones made a rather unimpressive first impression.

“I’m sitting there going — and he’s a guy we thought was going in the first round — I’m thinking ‘My God, this guy is going to play himself out of the first round down here,’ ’’ Jim Nagy said Tuesday.

Nagy, back in 2019, was in his first full year as the executive director of the Senior Bowl when Jones was invited and placed on the North team. Despite the shaky start to his week, Jones kept at it and by the time the actual game came and went, Jones was selected as the Most Valuable Player, leading his side to a 34-24 victory. The Giants came away duly impressed and eventually made Jones the No. 6 overall pick. Although it took too long for that lofty draft status to equate to wins and production, Jones responded to the pressure of playing on the final year of his rookie contract with a career-best season and the new front office regime led by general manager Joe Schoen has made it clear re-signing Jones is a priority this offseason.


Daniel Jones throw a pass during the Senior Bowl in 2019.
Daniel Jones throw a pass during the Senior Bowl in 2019.
AP

Before running the Senior Bowl on a full-time basis — his “The Draft Starts in Mobile’’ marketing campaign has been a big hit — Nagy was an NFL scout for 18 years. He was part of six teams that reached the Super Bowl and worked for four teams — the Packers, Patriots (twice) and Seahawks — that won it. Nagy knows what he is viewing on the field and his recollection of Jones from four years ago remains so entrenched in his mind that he relayed this tale this week to Max Duggan, the TCU quarterback who is participating in this year’s Senior Bowl.

Nagy recalls Jones struggling to get a grasp on the terminology and wordiness of the play calls installed by the head coach of the North team, Jon Gruden of the Raiders, whose system was known to be especially difficult for quarterbacks to master. Jones was having difficulty taking clean snaps from under center. He threw back-to-back interceptions in the first team period in the first practice. That is when Nagy feared Jones was hurting his draft standing.

“And he bounced back and finished off that day strong, had a really good Thursday and was the MVP of the game,’’ Nagy said. “I always use him as an example for our players, just get a little bit better every day. You don’t have to come out here gangbusters.

“Tuesday to me, as a scout, throwaway is not the right term, but if you have a good day to me on Tuesday it’s almost like a bonus. I don’t think any scouts expect these guys to come out here Day 1 and light it up at their position. Yeah, Daniel’s kinda like the poster boy for that.”

The Giants have a history of valuing the Senior Bowl. This new regime is in lockstep with that line of thinking. Most NFL teams do not have their coaches at this event for the week. Head coach Brian Daboll flew in Tuesday morning and his staff is also here. Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale as early as Monday evening was meeting with interior defensive linemen and stressing to them the importance of pushing back offensive linemen and stopping the run.


Jim Nagy, the executive director of the Senior Bowl, credited Giants coach Brian Daboll for helping Daniel Jones take the next step as a quarterback.
Jim Nagy, the executive director of the Senior Bowl, credited Giants coach Brian Daboll for helping Daniel Jones take the next step as a quarterback.
Getty Images

Daniel Jones
Daniel Jones
Charles Wenzelberg/New York Po

For the past seven years, at least one quarterback who participated in the Senior Bowl was selected in the first round. That streak will come to an end this year. “This class is all in the fourth- or fifth-class group of quarterbacks,’’ Nagy said.

Jones used the Senior Bowl to convince the Giants he was their guy.

“It hasn’t been an easy path,’’ Nagy said. “I think everyone talks about right now that you got to surround quarterbacks with the right situation, it’s all circumstantial whether quarterbacks hit or not. And he hasn’t had a great circumstance, until this year.

“For him to persevere — I was talking to another guy in the league about the Jets young quarterback [Zach Wilson] right now and just what the market can do to guys and here’s hoping the Jets young guy can get through that. And Daniel’s done that. He’s persevered and I couldn’t be happier for him. He’s such a good guy, so tough, just an understated toughness. Dabes and those guys did an awesome job with him.’’

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