Good question, Dave. I think the meaning of the term "bust" has changed over the years. And as you said, people will define it in whatever way suits them. When I was a kid, guys like Ereck Flowers and Eli Apple weren't labeled busts. They were called below average or bad players but they were starters for a significant time so they weren't really busts. But these days they are called busts. Guys like Thomas Lewis and Derek Brown were busts because they couldn't earn their way on the field or keep a starting job.
Now part of that is in this era first round picks are handed starting jobs without earning them. But we still see examples of guys like Deandre Baker and Kadarius Toney who are gifted starting jobs they didn't earn but prove themselves to be busts anyway because they are so lousy in character and performance that they force decision makers to give up on them quickly.
The QB position is a little more complicated to assess because it's the keystone to everything else. It's hard to be an effective QB if you aren't able to elevate the play of your teammates.
By that measure, Jones is a bust. He elevates no one and he arguably makes his teammates look worse out there. But he has held a starting job for years so that puts him in the category with guys like Flowers and Apple, not with Baker and Toney.
If people want to say he's not a bust because he's been a starter, then that's fair. But in my view they'd also have to agree that Flowers and Apple weren't busts. Jones could run fast and he tried hard, so defenses had to account for him, but beyond that he didn't consistently do any of the things you'd expect from a higher tier starting QB.
To me he's a bust simply because the organization and their compliant beat writers and social media personalities tried to sell him as a franchise QB, which he's not and never has been. That's not his fault but sometimes players are a victim of their circumstances. If he was a 3rd round pick like Hostetler and made relatively little money, I have no doubt he'd be viewed in a more favorable light. He'd be thought of as an overachiever. A guy with limited talent who gave the team everything he had. But he took the money so it is what it is.
Someone raised the question of Daboll and Schoen's complicity. Yes, both men along with ownership and anyone else involved are complicit in creating the fairytale of Daniel Jones as a franchise QB who was worth franchise QB money (even if only for a 2 year commitment). That 2 years, on top of the 4 years of his rookie contract, have left this team in QB hell for what will be 6 years all because no one with any power in the organization was willing to call a spade a spade. You don't make your team better through public relations and creating a fairytale that your QB has skills that aren't there. He was never anything more than a fast guy with a ton of heart who was physically fragile and mentally overwhelmed.
In my book the contract combined with his draft position makes him a bust and yes, leadership is more than 50% to blame for this debacle.
Now part of that is in this era first round picks are handed starting jobs without earning them. But we still see examples of guys like Deandre Baker and Kadarius Toney who are gifted starting jobs they didn't earn but prove themselves to be busts anyway because they are so lousy in character and performance that they force decision makers to give up on them quickly.
The QB position is a little more complicated to assess because it's the keystone to everything else. It's hard to be an effective QB if you aren't able to elevate the play of your teammates.
By that measure, Jones is a bust. He elevates no one and he arguably makes his teammates look worse out there. But he has held a starting job for years so that puts him in the category with guys like Flowers and Apple, not with Baker and Toney.
If people want to say he's not a bust because he's been a starter, then that's fair. But in my view they'd also have to agree that Flowers and Apple weren't busts. Jones could run fast and he tried hard, so defenses had to account for him, but beyond that he didn't consistently do any of the things you'd expect from a higher tier starting QB.
To me he's a bust simply because the organization and their compliant beat writers and social media personalities tried to sell him as a franchise QB, which he's not and never has been. That's not his fault but sometimes players are a victim of their circumstances. If he was a 3rd round pick like Hostetler and made relatively little money, I have no doubt he'd be viewed in a more favorable light. He'd be thought of as an overachiever. A guy with limited talent who gave the team everything he had. But he took the money so it is what it is.
Someone raised the question of Daboll and Schoen's complicity. Yes, both men along with ownership and anyone else involved are complicit in creating the fairytale of Daniel Jones as a franchise QB who was worth franchise QB money (even if only for a 2 year commitment). That 2 years, on top of the 4 years of his rookie contract, have left this team in QB hell for what will be 6 years all because no one with any power in the organization was willing to call a spade a spade. You don't make your team better through public relations and creating a fairytale that your QB has skills that aren't there. He was never anything more than a fast guy with a ton of heart who was physically fragile and mentally overwhelmed.
In my book the contract combined with his draft position makes him a bust and yes, leadership is more than 50% to blame for this debacle.