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Jordan Raanan, ESPN Staff Writer
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones was cleared for contact and is expected to make his return on Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders, sources told ESPN.
The New York Post first reported the news about Jones being cleared by doctors.
Jones was dealing with a neck injury and a limited participant in practice the past two weeks. But the final step was passing tests from doctors and being cleared for contact. The sources said the positive news came on Sunday morning, hours before the Giants finished with a franchise worst -9 passing yards in a 13-10 overtime loss to the New York Jets.
Jones’ return comes just in time. Backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor left the game with a rib cage injury. He spent the night at Hackensack Medical Center where he was undergoing further evaluation.
Undrafted rookie Tommy DeVito finished the game on Sunday and went 2-of-7 for -1 yards in his NFL debut.
Jones injured his neck when he was sacked by Miami’s Andrew VanGinkel on Oct. 8. He missed three games.
The Giants were cautious with Jones, especially considering he now has a history of neck injuries. The 26-year-old missed the final six games of the 2021 season with a disc problem.
Jones insisted this was not the same injury, and was confident he would return this season despite some pain and weakness that went into his left (non-throwing) shoulder.
“It’s a different injury,” Jones said recently. “I think when you see other guys who have similar situations as mine and they are able to progress and come back, I’m following a similar timeline to that. That is kind of the optimism, and yeah, it’s a different injury than last time.”
But the uncertainty of the situation did leave reasons for concern. Coach Brian Daboll was hesitant last week to say that Jones would definitely return this season, even though he publicly expressed confidence previously.
It has been a rough start to the season for the Giants (2-6) and Jones. They are last in the NFL averaging 11.9 points per game. Jones has thrown two touchdown passes and five interceptions while taking 28 sacks in five starts.
This comes after an offseason in which the Giants signed Jones to a four-year, $160 million deal to be their starting quarterback. He received $84 million guaranteed in the first two years.