"I feel good about Daniel already," Judge said last Wednesday. "I want him to keep growing and developing his craft. Obviously, he's a great asset to our team. You want to have him available to play with the team. That's obviously something that we're not keeping secret. Daniel's done a good job growing for us. We're going to keep on pushing forward with him."

Well, they'll push forward with him at least through 2021 when he is only due to make $965,000 in salary and count for $8.3 million against the salary cap. That's easy because the Giants don't have many better options at the moment. The idea of trading for Russell Wilson is an unrealistic fantasy given their awful salary cap situation. And while the Giants hold two high picks in the upcoming draft, the scouting world doesn't seem particularly high on the incoming quarterback class.

So this is less about replacing Jones and more about keeping their options open. If they guarantee him $21.3 million for 2023, he's their quarterback for the next two seasons. If they don't, they roll the dice to see how he plays next season and whether he can stay healthy. Maybe he plays himself into a lucrative, long-term contract that they'd be thrilled to give him if he earns it.

Or maybe he shows them once and for all that he's just not the guy.

It's a tough call -- one that Mara may be making with a new general manager -- because the answer just isn't clear. How much of Jones' issues were about him and how much of them were the terrible and depleted cast around him? The Giants fired offensive coordinator Jason Garrett midseason – an indication that at least some in the organization blamed the scheme and coaching more than the players. He's also spent most of the season playing without his best weapons, with players like Saquon Barkley, Kenny Golladay, Sterling Shepard and rookie Kadarius Toney all missing significant time.

And then there's the issue that has plagued his predecessor his whole career, just like it praised his predecessor, Eli Manning: The awful Giants offensive line. It was particularly problematic this season after losing two starters early in the season, and then losing left tackle Andrew Thomas for several games.

Did he even have much of a chance to thrive in his first three seasons? Or do the Giants believe he should have thrived despite what was happening around him?

The smart financial move seems to be to let him play out his contract. But it's awfully risky to let a quarterback approach free agency if they really believe he's the guy. Even if the salary cap jumps in 2023, though, $21.3 million is a lot to pay if it turns out they're wrong.

So whatever the Giants say about Jones between now and then are just words. We'll know what they really think about him when they make their next move sometime in the next 4 ½ months. It's a move they really hoped and expected would be a no-brainer.

It just hasn't turned out to be nearly as easy as they thought it would be.

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