‘Ready to go’: QB Daniel Jones fully cleared for practice

In the first episode of “Hard Knocks,” Schoen said of Jones, “This is the year for Daniel. The plan all along was to give him a couple of years. Is he our guy for the next 10 years, or do we need to pivot and find somebody else?”

Schoen did not back away from that statement today.

“I think the context of that conversation was coming off of – again, these are small snippets in thousands of conversations,” he said. “So, within the context of that situation and the way the contract is structured, and the way last year went, yeah, I think that’s a fair assessment that we need better in 2024.”

One of Schoen’s first significant decisions when he became G.M. in 2022 was not picking up the fifth-year option on Jones’ rookie contract. Now, Jones is coming back after a serious injury and facing speculation about his future. Will all that give him additional motivation this season?

“I think it depends on the player,” Daboll said. “I think you’d have to ask DJ. But he is intrinsically motivated. You know, we meet every day. He’ll be ready to go.”

“These are professional athletes,” Schoen said. “I think, this extra motivation or quotes or bulletin board material, I’m not necessarily buying into that all the time. I think these guys have gotten where they’ve gotten in their careers as athletes because they’re competitive, they’re self-motivated, they’re driven. And I think Daniel is all of those things. And I think of all the guys on the team, he probably does the best job tuning out the noise. I think he’s wired for the position in terms of those strengths that I just said and tuning out the noise. He’s been busting his tail and doing everything he can do to get back on the football field. He’s a great teammate. He’s a leader. And I’m excited to how things go this year if he can stay healthy.”

Jones concedes his pre-draft talk with Schoen was “not a fun conversation.” But he dismisses the notion he has more incentive this season because of it.

“However you want to call it, the motivation or the drive – I’ve always been motivated and driven to work harder than or as hard as I possibly can,” Jones said. “That’s always been my mindset and my approach. I’m going to continue to do that. I’m going to continue to work hard and play for my teammates, play for myself, play for everyone. I’m excited to do that.

“I’m focused on playing as well as I can every year and every situation and my teammates and making sure we’re as successful as we can be. I’m confident in this group, confident in where we can be. I think we’ve added some good pieces, and we’ll be a good football team. So, playing this position, playing in the NFL, there are always expectations, but we have high expectations of ourselves, and we expect a lot from our offense and from our team.”