Mark Glowinski has just one season of experience protecting Daniel Jones.
Nonetheless, the offensive lineman knows well enough that Jones has had his struggles finding consistency on the field and around him.
After Jones' finest season so far in 2022, Glowinski foresees the brightest days are still yet to come for the New York Giants quarterback.
"I think it's going to be even a better season now that he has … that little bit of sense of relief in the sense that he doesn't have to prove (anything) to anybody and now he can just go out there and have fun and kick a--," Glowinski said on the Ross Tucker Football Podcast. "And I think that's what was showing last year."
Glowinski started 16 games for New York a season ago -- his first for the Giants after three seasons with the Seattle Seahawks and four as part of a then-stellar Indianapolis Colts front. He knows full well Jones' history, though. It's one in which the 2019 NFL Draft's No. 6 overall pick has played for three head coaches and four offensive coordinators in four seasons.
The hiring of Brian Daboll ahead of the 2022 campaign has been a boon thus far for Danny Dimes, who posted career bests across the board last season in myriad categories: 317 completions, 472 attempts, 67.2 completion percentage, 3,205 yards, five interceptions, NFL-leading 1.1 interception percentage, 708 rushing yards, seven rushing touchdowns.
For as solid a season as it was for Jones, it wasn't all puppies and rainbows from the jump. In his first four games, he never topped 200 yards passing and threw just three total TDs.
From Glowinski's perspective, Jones was pressing before he eventually settled in and got comfortable.
"He did a great job, especially coming off of the, you know, past couple of years where he's had a different coach," Glowinski said. "And even with last year, he had a new coach. So he is, you can tell early on in the season, that he had a little bit of tightness in him, where he wanted to make sure he was being right all the time. And I think, you know, for something simple for me, I would just tell him to try to stay loose and have as much fun out there. And I felt like every game that we were winning, he was opening up a little bit more and you would see a little bit more fire in him and more and more and that swagger was coming out. And there was a lot of fun that was being played last season."
Last season saw the Giants sneak up on people. Big Blue quenched a playoff drought that extended back to 2016 and then won its first postseason game since 2011.
They're not going to be able to surprise any many opponents in 2023, and Jones' four-year, $160 million extension is going to have fans in Gotham expecting him to be better in Year 2 under Daboll. Glowinski believes his quarterback will be.
