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USATSI

Daniel Jones has an important season ahead of him as the second-year quarterback of the New York Giants. Surrounded by a healthier supporting cast and coming off an offseason in which he was the team's unquestioned starter, the former Duke standout could very well be this year's MVP-level breakout under center. And it turns out he put a particular emphasis on one thing in order to prepare for 2020: bulking up.

Chronicling Jones' workout regimen ahead of this season, ESPN's Jordan Raanan reported recently that the Giants QB is up to 229 pounds after playing his rookie campaign at a listed 220. Standing 6-foot-5, Jones is now set to be one of the league's biggest starting signal-callers, not far behind the likes of Cam Newton, Carson Wentz and Ben Roethlisberger.

"Aesthetically, you can see it," Jason Benguche, one of Jones' offseason trainers, told Raanan. "His legs certainly got bigger, stronger. And at the same time he got faster and more explosive."

Anthony Boone, another of Jones' offseason mentors, echoed the sentiment.

"He's chiseled up," Boone said. "He's put good definition on his body ... I think he's going to shock the league and be huge for the Giants this year."

While limiting fumbles was another practice priority for the second-year QB this offseason, simply gaining strength was apparently atop Jones' wish list entering 2020. The Eli Manning successor spent much of his off time in Charlotte, as he told Raanan, where he enlisted a handful of trainers and coaches to build lower-body durability.

"I feel good. I feel like I'm as strong as I've been," Jones said. "I feel like I'm in good shape ... I wanted to get stronger and wanted to gain some weight for what that does for every part of my game -- standing in the pocket, running when I need to, and obviously throwing the ball as efficiently as I can using my strength, my lower body. Each piece of that was part of the goal of the offseason in my training."