April 2019 was a weird time. Game of Thrones was wrapping up its final season, "Old Town Road" was stuck on a loop in everyone's head, and New York Giants fans were about to experience a collective meltdown that would live forever in YouTube infamy. If you're wondering what year was daniel jones drafted, the answer is 2019. Specifically, it was the night of April 25, 2019, when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell walked onto the stage in Nashville and announced that with the sixth overall pick, the Giants were taking a quarterback from Duke.
The reaction wasn't just loud. It was visceral.
Why the 2019 NFL Draft Felt Like a Fever Dream
To understand why people still ask about the year Daniel Jones was drafted, you have to remember the context of that specific Giants era. Eli Manning was clearly at the end of the road. The front office, led by the often-polarizing Dave Gettleman, was desperate to find "the guy" to succeed a two-time Super Bowl MVP.
They settled on Daniel Jones.
Honestly, the "reach" of this pick is what made it legendary. Most draft "experts"—the guys who spend all year watching film and drinking too much coffee—had Jones graded as a late first-rounder or even a second-round talent. When the Giants took him at No. 6, social media basically exploded. There’s a famous video of fans at a draft party at MetLife Stadium literally screaming in agony. One guy just keeps yelling, "No! Not him!"
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It was brutal.
But Gettleman didn't care. He famously claimed he "fell in full bloom love" with Jones after watching him for three series at the Senior Bowl. He was convinced that if he didn't take Jones at six, the quarterback wouldn't even be there by the time the Giants picked again at seventeen. Was he right? We'll never actually know, but rumors at the time suggested the Washington Redskins (now the Commanders) or the Denver Broncos might have been lurking.
The Duke Connection and the "Eli Clone" Theory
The year Daniel Jones was drafted, the biggest selling point was his pedigree. He wasn't just some random kid from the ACC; he was a David Cutcliffe product.
For those who don't follow the granular details of coaching trees, Cutcliffe is the guy who mentored both Peyton and Eli Manning. Because Jones played for him at Duke, the narrative was served on a silver platter: he’s just like Eli. He’s tall. He’s quiet. He’s got that same "aw shucks" demeanor.
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Daniel Jones vs. The 2019 QB Class
The 2019 draft wasn't exactly a goldmine for quarterbacks. Kyler Murray went first overall to the Cardinals, and after Jones at six, the options were... slim. Here is how that specific group of first-rounders looked:
- Kyler Murray (No. 1 to Arizona)
- Daniel Jones (No. 6 to NY Giants)
- Dwayne Haskins (No. 15 to Washington)
Looking back from 2026, it’s a fascinating snapshot of how hit-or-miss the draft really is. At the time, plenty of Giants fans were begging for Dwayne Haskins, who had put up massive numbers at Ohio State. History, however, took a very different path for both players.
What Happened After He Put on the Hat?
Jones’s rookie year was actually kinda wild. He didn’t start immediately; Eli took the first two games. But after an 0-2 start, head coach Pat Shurmur made the switch.
Jones’s first start against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was the stuff of legends. He threw for 336 yards and ran for two touchdowns, leading an 18-point comeback win. Suddenly, the "Danny Dimes" nickname was born, and the haters went quiet for a few weeks.
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Of course, the fumbling issues and the coaching carousel soon followed. Between 2019 and 2024, Jones played under multiple head coaches—Shurmur, Joe Judge, and Brian Daboll. That kind of instability is a career-killer for most young QBs. It’s a miracle he managed to lead them to a playoff win in Minneapolis during the 2022 season, which remains the peak of his Giants tenure.
The Financial Fallout and the 2026 Reality
By the time 2023 rolled around, the Giants were in a corner. They gave Jones a massive $160 million contract, a move that is still debated in sports bars across New Jersey to this day.
Was he worth it? Depending on who you ask, he was either a victim of a bad offensive line or a guy who just couldn't process the game fast enough. Fast forward to today, and the landscape has shifted. Jones is no longer the centerpiece in New York, having moved on to the Indianapolis Colts to try and resurrect his career, similar to how Philip Rivers did years ago.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Analysts
If you're tracking the legacy of the 2019 draft, here are a few things to keep in mind for future evaluations:
- Ignore the "Draft Grade" Hype: Teams often value "traits" (like Jones's 6'5" frame and 4.72-second 40-yard dash) over college production.
- Stability Matters: A quarterback's success is almost always tied to their play-caller. Jones’s best year (2022) coincided with Brian Daboll’s arrival.
- The Senior Bowl is Real: Don't ignore the pre-draft showcase games. As Gettleman showed, one good week in Mobile, Alabama, can turn a second-round pick into a top-ten selection.
The year Daniel Jones was drafted was a turning point for the Giants franchise that led to a decade of "what ifs." Whether you think he was a bust or a guy who never got a fair shake, that April night in 2019 changed the trajectory of New York football forever.
To dig deeper into how draft values have shifted since then, you should compare the 2019 QB metrics against the more mobile-heavy classes of recent years to see how the "prototypical" quarterback mold has been completely broken.