Sad news for new york giants:He is leaving….

The New York Giants’ future began to change on the first play of the second quarter in Sunday’s 30-6 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, when quarterback Daniel Jones began to fall.

In some ways, it reminded me of Aaron Rodgers collapsing during the New York Jets’ season opener against the Buffalo Bills. Rodgers attempted to stand and went down on one knee. He realized right away that something was wrong. He’d ripped his Achilles.

Jones lifted himself off the turf at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday and immediately realized something was wrong. He knelt on one knee. The ACL in his right knee was torn, as revealed by an MRI on Monday.

Jones’ disappointing 2023 season was over. It also accelerated the process of locating the next Giants quarterback (top prospects are USC’s Caleb Williams and North Carolina’s Drake Maye), even if coach Brian Daboll will not allow his mind to wander there.

“I just heard he had an ACL here 10 minutes ago,” Daboll said on Monday. “So my priority is to be there for the young man.” I know he’ll do everything he can to return and be ready to go.

At AT&T Stadium on Sunday, either undrafted rookie Tommy DeVito or veteran Matt Barkley will start against the Dallas Cowboys. Daboll refused to commit to DeVito after he went 15-of-20 for 175 yards, a touchdown, and an interception in Las Vegas after throwing for minus-1 yard the week before against the Jets.

The reality of the Giants’ (2-7) situation is that without Jones and backup Tyrod Taylor – Daboll expressed doubts about Taylor’s ability to return from a rib cage injury this season – this team will struggle to win games. Even if their quarterbacks were healthy, the Giants were doomed to a similar fate.

However, the Giants are now firmly in the quarterback race.

Jones’ contract, injury history, and regression this season should make it impossible to overlook if they have a high draft pick in 2024. Without Jones, they now have a 23% chance of landing the top pick, according to ESPN analytics. He was at 9.4% when he was ruled out for the season.

The Giants have an 89.4% chance of finishing in the top five and a 99.2% chance of finishing in the top ten. Joe Schoen, the Giants’ general manager, was in Buffalo when the team selected Josh Allen seventh overall in 2018.

The possibility of a high draft pick gives Schoen and the Giants options in a quarterback class that is highly regarded.

Schoen was at the USC-Washington game over the weekend, getting his second live look at Williams this season.

Jones will be paid $35.5 million next season. Following that, only $23 million is guaranteed for injury only the following year.

This gives the Giants a realistic option to get out of the contract after next season with only a $22.2 million dead money cap hit. Despite signing Jones this offseason, it makes drafting a quarterback a more realistic option.

This does not imply that this team will deliberately lose games.

“If [Jones’ season-ending injury] is the reality, we’re 2-7.” We’ve still got work to do. We still need to get to work. “We still have to compete,” said running back Saquon Barkley after the loss on Sunday. “That’s the mindset, until you’re mathematically out of it.”

That is the difficult part. The organization’s best long-term interest may be to secure one of the top picks in this draft in order to land Williams or Maye.

Except for the fact that there will be a lot of competition. The Chicago Bears, Arizona Cardinals, New England Patriots, and Denver Broncos are all in need of a quarterback this offseason. Jones was hurt.