Giants' Evan Engram praises rookie QB Daniel Jones for picking up playbook

May 17 (UPI) -- New York Giants tight end Evan Engram says rookie quarterback Daniel Jones isn't having much trouble picking up the playbook ahead of the 2019 season.

Engram spoke to reporters at a celebrity softball game Thursday at Yankee Stadium. The Giants selected Jones with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, surprising many who had several other quarterback prospects ranked ahead of the former Duke gunslinger.

"He's picking up [the offense] really fast," Engram said, according to NJ.com. "They've been trying to throw some stuff at him and he's handled it really well."

Jones completed 59.9 percent of his throws in four seasons at Duke. He also passed for 8,201 yards, 52 scores and 29 interceptions in 36 games. Jones surpassed the 20 touchdown mark in just one of his three seasons quarterbacking for the Blue Devils.

Engram's assessment of Jones came a day after Giants offensive coordinator Mike Shula told reporters that Jones would "be ready to go" if he had to start the team's Week 1 game against the Dallas Cowboys.

"I think with all of them we try to push the envelope early," Shula said. "First of all, you want to kind of see how quickly they can pick things up, how quickly they can retain now with not as many reps as they would in college. And then kind of go from there. We want all of the young guys to play catch up. We understand that there's a learning curve, but we still want to test that a little bit."

"I think that helps us gather information down the road on what kind processor these guys are, talking about Daniel now, as well. At that position, going from the meeting rooms or walkthroughs to the practice field and the game field."

Shula also praised Jones' intelligence, calling the quarterback "really smart" because of the questions that he asks and how he is picking everything up. NFL scouts also praised Jones' football IQ in his pre-draft profile on NFL.com.

Veteran Eli Manning is expected to open the 2019 season as the Giants' starting quarterback. The Giants have their first day of OTA off-season workouts Monday before starting mandatory minicamp June 4.