Giants grab Daniel Jones as Eli's successor with 6th pick

The New York Giants selected quarterback Daniel Jones out of Duke with the sixth overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.

Jones was the second quarterback to come off the board Thursday following Oklahoma's Kyler Murray, who went first overall to the Arizona Cardinals. Murray and Ohio State's Dwayne Haskins were widely considered the top quarterback prospects in the 2019 class, but rumors began swirling days before the draft that the Giants were more enamored with Jones.

New York faced criticism last year for passing on highly regarded quarterbacks with the No. 2 pick, which it used on running back Saquon Barkley.

Jones immediately becomes the Giants' quarterback of the future, as he's positioned to succeed Eli Manning as the starter. Manning, 38, is entering the final year of his contract and has struggled to overcome an apparent decline in arm strength over the last couple of seasons.

Prospect profile

School: Duke
Height: 6-5
Weight: 221 lbs

Strengths

• Moves well within the pocket and maintains eye level
• Great footwork from snap to throw
• Works through progressions
• Accurate to short levels of the field
• Toughness to stand in and deliver a throw
• Good athlete with the ability to make plays as a runner

Weaknesses

• Average arm strength limits his ability to make certain throws
• Accuracy and ball placement suffers when pushing the ball downfield
• Spotty decision-making
• Too many batted balls at the line
• Underwhelming production

Bottom line

It's not tough to see why Jones is getting first-round buzz leading up to the draft. The NFL has its types, and his size, toughness, and an ability to work through progressions certainly check a number of boxes. The issue is that those traits are combined with average arm strength, accuracy issues beyond the short levels of the field, some poor decision-making, and a lack of production in three years under center at Duke. Jones could develop into a solid starter at the NFL level, but his ceiling isn't very high.