Giants’ Joe Schoen says Daniel Jones will be starter when healthy — but doesn’t rule out drafting a QB high

Giants general manager Joe Schoen on Monday stood by Daniel Jones — sort of.

Schoen, during his bye week press conference, said that once Jones recovers from his torn ACL, he’ll be the Giants’ starting quarterback again.

But this smacks of semantics, since Schoen also did not rule out drafting a quarterback high in 2024.

“The expectation is that when Daniel is healthy, he will be our starting quarterback,” Schoen said. “That’s the expectation moving forward.”

So does this mean Schoen definitely draft a quarterback high in 2024?

No, it doesn’t mean that, Schoen said.

“We don’t have a crystal ball in terms of how the rehab is going to go,” Schoen said. “I think we’re going to have to do something in the quarterback [room], whether it’s free agency or the draft. We don’t know when [Jones] is going to be ready. We’ll have to address [quarterback] at some point.”

One issue for Schoen is that he now probably has no shot at getting a top three pick — which would mean no shot at Caleb Williams or Drake Maye, who are considered the top two quarterback prospects in 2024.

The Giants are 4-8 and have won two straight games, during which they have fallen from the second pick to the sixth. The top three teams in the draft right now — Bears (from Panthers), Cardinals, and Patriots — have one, two, and two wins. And all three could draft a quarterback next spring.

Would Schoen pick a quarterback like Bo Nix, Jayden Daniels, or Michael Penix in the top 10? What about in Round 2, where Schoen has an extra pick because of the Leonard Williams trade?

Jones will be back with the Giants in 2024, since Schoen gave him what is essentially a two-year, $82 million contract this past offseason. Schoen has an escape hatch in the contract after 2024 ­— but not sooner than that.

It’s unclear when Jones will be able to play again, as he rehabs his torn ACL. So that has to be a consideration for Schoen. It’s entirely possible that Jones isn’t ready to play in Week 1 next season.

Jones’ backup, Tyrod Taylor, is a pending free agent who will turn 35 in August. The Giants’ current starter, third-string Tommy DeVito, is under contract through 2024. He’s a nice story, but he’s not a long-term solution for the Giants.

Ultimately, next season will be Year 6 for Jones, and the jury is still out on whether he can be a high-level franchise quarterback. He has also experienced durability issues.

So it makes perfectly reasonable sense for Schoen to using a premium draft pick on a quarterback in 2024, even if Schoen doesn’t select a quarterback in Round 1, since it looks like he’s out of the Williams/Maye hunt.