EverythingTop10 is proud to present, “The Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Daniel
Jones!”
#10.
He is a humble, down to earth guy.
This cannot be said of many NFL quarterbacks, but Daniel Jones is one of the humblest guys
you will ever meet.
Former teammates speak of how he was always there as a friend, or how he would always
organize cookouts and barbeques for them.
One teammate mentioned how he would always be the one visiting and bringing food to him
at the hospital, making sure he was okay.
#9.
Jones was picked over some big names in the 2019 NFL Draft.
His selection was surprising, that much is clear.
However, he was surprisingly picked over some pretty huge names.
The Giants could have taken Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins or edge rusher Josh Allen with
both still being on the board at the time.
In fact, Haskins was seen laughing and shrugging when the pick was announced.
#8.
He has been likened to Peyton Manning.
Coming from NFL scouting sensation Gil Brandt, the likening to Peyton Manning is to be taken
seriously.
According to Brandt, looking at Jones would be like turning the clock back and watching
Peyton Manning, who played in the NFL for 18 seasons.
Manning started off in the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts, and he ended his career with the Denver
Broncos.
Such high praise and a career that Daniel Jones can only hope for.
#7.
Jones has struggled with injury.
He, like many other first round picks, had an impressive college career.
He even forewent his last year of collegiate football to apply to the NFL.
His college career was, however, not without difficulty.
He struggled with injuries, often playing through pain and illness in his usual determination
to help his team win.
#6.
He is in a relationship with Ella Bonafede.
He is currently dating New York native Ella Bonafede.
Judging from her posts on social media, they seem to have been together for a long time,
probably meeting at Duke where she played lacrosse.
Bonafede, who is a vet, was born in the Bay Shore area, about 37 miles from Manhattan.
Bonafede is very active on social media, and is very supportive of her boyfriend.
#5.
Jones comes from a family of sportspeople.
He is no doubt the most famous of them, but there is no shortage of competitive sporting
spirit in his family.
He comes from a family where all his siblings are god athletes in their own right.
Becca, older than him by 22 months, played field hockey for four years at Davidson, a
sport which her mother also excelled in.
His younger brother Bates is in the men’s Basketball team at Davidson.
The youngest of the siblings, Ruthie, could actually be the best athlete of the three
siblings and is headed to Duke as a decorated soccer player.
#4.
He is only the second Duke Player to be drafted in the top 10 overall.
He was selected 6th overall in the NFL Draft, a fact that reportedly baffled some Giants
fans, judging from the videos they posted on social media.
For Duke fans and followers, this is somewhat a unique occurrence.
The fact that he was selected 6th overall makes him only the second Duke player to be
drafted in the top 10, after Mike Junkin, the linebacker who was drafted 5th overall
in 1987.
No blue devil quarterback was ever taken in the first round before him.
The most recent (relative) success story from Duke was in 2015, when Laken Tomlinson was
selected 28th overall by Detroit.
#3.
Jones was destined for Harvard or Princeton.
When he finally began to get the attention of colleges in his senior year, he got the
attention of several Ivy League schools.
He threw for 43 touchdowns in his senior year and ran for another 10 touchdowns.
He however seemed headed for a decision between Harvard and Princeton.
In a last ditch attempt, his high school coach offered him to Duke head coach David Cutcliffe.
There were no scholarships available, so Jones was offered the chance to play for Duke as
a ‘grayshirt’.
This meant he would pay his own way through his first semester until a scholarship spot
opened.
He accepted the offer, and the rest as they say is history.
He went on to start for Duke for three years, throwing for more than 8000 yards.
#2.
He was a late bloomer.
He was really skinny growing up, unbelievably skinny.
He only developed the physique he has today way later in his playing career.
It was not until his junior year in high school that he slowly started to bulk up.
In his sophomore year, he was just about 5 foot 11, weighing about 150 pounds.
Despite his size, he was really athletic and extremely competitive in nature.
He grew to a massive 6 foot 3 by his senior year in high school, and this is when he finally
caught the undivided attention of the major college football programs.
The high school recruiting records were even more brutal.
24/7Sports, for instance ranked him as the 2020th best player among the class of 2015.
His composite rating, which combines the opinions of most major recruiting services, listed
him with no stars and a “not available” ranking.
Sites like Rivals.com did not even have a photo to go with his profile.
Compare this with his profile in 2019, where he was one of the first-tier quarterback prospects,
ranked together with players that had four or five stars out of high school.
#1.
Jones’ high school nickname was “swag.”
According to former varsity football coach Larry McNulty, Jones had such swagger about
him in his formative years as a football player, that the people around him called him “swag.”
McNulty, who has since retired from coaching described him as a really skinny kid, but
one that did not lack in confidence or expression.
Snippets of this attitude can be seen in his demeanor today as he plays for the New York
Giants.
Many fans believe that succeeding at the top needs a little bit of this, and some even
enjoy it.
Daniel Jones had so much of it, they gave him a nickname.
He was a small kid, and often took hits from people almost twice his size, but he had a
particular calmness about him that kept him going through adversity.
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