Tiki Barber fears Giants QB Daniel Jones may not be ready to start season

Retired New York Giants running back Tiki Barber recently expressed concern about quarterback Daniel Jones and if he would be ready for week 1 of the 2024 season after missing most of last year with a torn ACL.

The former Giant turned WFAN sports talk show host expressed those sentiments Thursday during his daily show with co-host Evan Roberts.

“I’m always concerned that Daniel Jones isn’t going to be ready for the start of the regular season,” Barber said. “Joe Schoen said it out loud (on Hard Knocks). ‘What if our quarterback isn’t ready for the start of the season?'”

Before we go any further, it’s hard to imagine that Barber was unaware that Schoen’s comments on the Hard Knocks series were made in late February and that several months had passed without Jones making any progress in his rehabilitation.

That said, Barber admitted he’s seen Jones more recently and the quarterback “looks great.”

“Big, strong, sturdy, he runs everywhere, he’s always training. He looked fit. But looking fit without protection is different from being on a football pitch and being chased aggressively by defenders.”

Jones, who was cleared to do individual and seven-on-seven drills this spring, vowed he’ll be ready for the start of training camp, which, assuming he has no setbacks, should put him on track to be ready for Week 1 of the regular season.

It’s unclear whether the Giants plan to let Jones play in any of the team’s three preseason games. It’s also unclear whether they plan to reduce the number of quarterback-designed runs they call in a game, at least early in Jones’ return.

While Barber is entitled to an opinion — and he hasn’t really explained why he thinks Jones won’t be ready, since his claim that looking good without pads is different than his claim that looking good with pads doesn’t carry much weight since all players will be exposed to wearing pads after the first week of training camp is in the books — he can’t seem to shake the negative feeling he has.

“I hope he’s ready,” he said. “But in my mind, I can’t help but think maybe he’s not.”

If Barber’s hunch proves correct, the Giants should turn to former Seattle backup Drew Lock to lead the offense until Jones is ready to play.