Dan Campbell puts the kibosh on any buzz about Daniel Jones to the Lions

The New York Giants released quarterback Daniel Jones last Friday, and a report from FOX Sports NFL insider Jordan Schultz last Sunday morning suggested the Detroit Lions were among the teams with interest in the former top-10 overall pick.

Schultz has also reported, again really, that Jones wants to join a playoff contender. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport has specifically floated the San Francisco 49ers, Baltimore Ravens and Las Vegas Raiders as potential options ("one of these things is not like the others") and "there will be others".

The Lions are certainly a playoff contender, and behind Jared Goff is Hendon Hooker, who lacks experience more than anything. Jake Fromm is also on the practice squad. If something happened to Goff, Hooker's performance in meaningful snaps against starters would be a question mark. Jones is hardly a perfect quarterback, but he is experienced and he has started two playoff games.

Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson recently outlined the value of Hooker being able to play in some one-sided wins the Lions have had, but Hooker's development could run parallel to having an experienced backup behind Goff.

Dan Campbell publicly squashes any Lions' interest in Daniel Jones

Jones cleared waivers on Monday, so he's freely available to anyone who'd like to sign him and whoever he'd like to sign with. On Tuesday, Lions head coach Dan Campbell was asked if the former Giants' signal caller has been discussed.

"We haven't really talked about that," Campbell said, via Richard Silva of the Detroit News. "The name has come up, but it's not like we've sat down and talked. So, I don't want to give you a yes or no."

Before the question about Jones, John Maakaron of SI.com asked Campbell about Hooker's development.

"He’s progressed. He’s progressed, which is — we’ve told him from day one, ‘We just need growth. We need you to grow every week.’ And we’ve given him opportunities in practice, good on good, to run our offense and, as much as we can, putting him under pressure, we’ve done that," Campbell said. "And he’s progressed, that’s the best way to say it. Every guy grows at his own rate, and he’s growing. And listen, if the time comes, he’s got to be ready to play. It doesn’t matter if he’s ready or not. He’ll go in there, and there’s things that he’s done well and those are things that we would call that I think he would have success with, and you would go from there.” 

Campbell indicated there would be confidence in Hooker if he had to play in the event of a Goff injury.

Campbell did not give a firm, unequivocal "no" about Jones in general, choosing to be brief and mostly vague with knowledge that things can change if Jones lingers available longer than expected. But right now, Jones feels more likely to end up with a team other than the Lions.