EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – From the moment Daniel Jones tore his right ACL last Nov. 5 in Las Vegas, one of the Giants' most significant questions was whether their quarterback would be healthy enough to participate in the first training camp practice.

Coach Brian Daboll provided the answer shortly before that first workout.

"He's ready to go," Daboll said. "I think we'll take it as we go. He's getting all the reps today. He'll get them with the ones every day. If we need to pull him back for whatever reason, maintenance, then we'll talk about that after every practice. But right now, he will be in there every snap that the ones are in."

As with everything else in the NFL, that could change. Jones did not participate in 11-on-11 drills in the spring, and the Giants will monitor how his knee responds after he did today.

"We have to see how the body reacts," general manager Joe Schoen said. "We don't know. In the spring he did not do team drills. He's eight months off it. So, we're going to work with him, and he's got to communicate with us on how his body feels, how the knee feels. That will determine how much he does moving forward. But the plan is to be a full go."

Jones wore a black sleeve on his right leg, but otherwise looked as he did in his first five seasons, throwing the ball with strength and accuracy and running with speed and determination.

"I expected to be here," Jones said. "I expected the process to go smoothly and well because we have good doctors, (athletic) trainers, and strength coaches and a clear plan from the get-go. It is definitely good to be here. I'm grateful to be out there and grateful to all the people who have helped me get to this point; still, a lot of work to do across the board. I will continue to rehab and focus on my knee, but also, from a football standpoint, getting back into 11-on-11 and playing football. Yeah, I'm grateful to be here, but it was kind of the plan all along, and I certainly expected to be here."

Jones' bright red practice jersey signifies he is not to be hit with force by defensive players. But some contact is inevitable in full-team football, especially when an uncommonly strong and athletic defensive lineman like Dexter Lawrence is shoving the offensive lineman trying to block him in Jones' direction.

But Jones gave no particular thought to those interactions on the field.

"I didn't think about it, just naturally," Jones said. "But some of those things are hard to mimic in a practice situation. So being out in 11-on-11 is important to get those reps. And the speed of the game is a little bit faster, getting back used to some of that stuff and reacting and seeing a defense moving, seeing defenders through zones, and seeing your guys. So, all that stuff is different and hard to mimic in a rehab or a practice setting in the offseason. It's good to be back out there, and I expect to keep getting better."

The Giants have been the subject of HBO's offseason "Hard Knocks," which has examined in detail the team's free agency pursuits, leadup to the NFL Draft, and the team investigating the possibility of moving up in the draft to draft a quarterback. Schoen was shown several times discussing the possibility with both his staff and members of other organizations. Schoen also talked to Jones about the situation.

"That's legit, the conversation I had with Daniel," Schoen said. "I think we communicated with Daniel throughout the process, and you go through the process, and we went through that process not knowing Daniel was going to be here today and full go 100 percent. You are trying to make decisions and you don't have all the answers. We didn't know that he was going to be healthy today, and we don't know what it's going to look like tomorrow. He's eight months off an ACL. So you go through the process, and we had a thorough process, which I think they did a good job of showing. If you're comfortable making a move and it made sense at the time, then that's what we would do. Whatever's best for the organization, which we talked about several times in there."

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."