In his last comments to the media before training camp in six weeks, Pat Shurmur stirred up a possible quarterback competition. The Giants coach said Eli Manning is the starter, but first-round pick Daniel Jones is getting ready to play, leaving the door slightly ajar for Jones to at least challenge Manning.

It also overshadowed what the former Duke star said, which shouldn’t be forgotten.

“I think I made a considerable amount of progress since I have gotten here. I should have. That is the way it is supposed to go,” Jones said on Tuesday in the final organized team activity practice of the spring that was open to the media. “I still have a considerable amount to do, but I am making progress every day and where I am is certainly better than where I started.”

Where he started was impressive in its own right, according to Giants players and coaches. The sixth-overall pick is doing everything he can, Shurmur has said, to be ready for the start of the regular season. But Jones also isn’t thinking about pushing Manning for playing time, either. That, he said, would distract him from the goal at hand, which is continuing to improve.

“I think in this offseason, all of our focus is on just improving and being better than the day before,” Jones said. “That is certainly my mind-set. We are all trying to put ourselves in a position to succeed. My focus right now is to be better than the day I was before.”

That progress has been evident to teammates. Jones doesn’t let a bad day or a bad play stick with him. He responds, answering adversity as a top pick should.

“You can kind of see him getting more comfortable,” tight end Evan Engram said. “You can see him responding to some of the mistakes that he may have made. Maybe have a bad throw and then come out and answer it with five good ones. You can definitely see that confidence starting to build and his decision making is [getting better].”

Jones came from a pro-style offense at Duke, which gives him a leg up. The Giants obviously run a different system and there is much more to master, but there are similarities to what he did in college. That has been helpful as he learns the playbook. So has all the time he spent this spring working with his new teammates.

“I think for me, a big thing is seeing defenses and seeing routes. Just how they open up and making those decisions,” Jones said. “For a quarterback, you want to make the right decision as quick as you can. That has a lot to do with defense anticipating a coverage and being able to get the ball out on time. I think I have gotten better with that, but still have a lot of room to improve. I think just seeing things and reacting have gotten better.”

“The practice and the exposure to going through and reading a concept,” he added, “was something I was lucky enough to be taught in college.”

Jones has continually impressed Shurmur, to the point the Giants coach wouldn’t rule out a summer quarterback competition with a two-time Super Bowl champion.