Giants look for ‘spark’ with QB switch for Tommy DeVito

Lock completed three of eight passes in relieving Jones late in a 28–3 loss to Philadelphia on Oct. 20. He started 23 games for Denver and Seattle before joining the Giants this season. This season, DeVito was the Giants’ designated third quarterback in every game and hasn’t played a down, which leads to the question of why he’s getting the call instead of the more experienced Lock.

“I got a lot of confidence in Drew, the way he’s handled himself since he’s been here, and he’s handled it well, too,” Daboll said. “Being professional. We’ve been with Tommy here a little bit. He’s done a good job, I’d say, throughout training here. But we’ve also got something to lean on by going back and watching him operate some of our Thing from last year This is no indication of Drew, he has been excellent for us.

One year ago tomorrow, DeVito, who joined the team as an undrafted rookie, started his second NFL game when the Giants visited the Washington Commanders. DeVito threw three touchdown passes in a 31-19 Giants victory.

DeVito would start and win the next two games and was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week after a Monday night win against Green Bay. He was the first Giants rookie quarterback to win three straight games since franchise icon Phil Simms in 1979. DeVito energized the locker room, animated the fan base and, as a local product playing for his hometown team, was one of the NFL’s best stories from the 2023 season.

The glimmer eventually dimmed. The Giants lost DeVito’s last two starts, and he was replaced by Tyrod Taylor after the break of a Christmas Day loss in Philadelphia. But the Giants’ output in DeVito’s start in Washington remains the last time they hit the 30-point barrier (they could have scored 30 in Seattle on Oct. 6, but Jones took a knee instead of trying a late 2-point conversion in a 29-20 win). It was the only game in Daboll’s three seasons in which they threw three touchdown passes, and since the end of the three-game winning streak, the Giants have won just three of 14 games, none of them in a row.

“Obviously, we’re not playing the way any of us want to play, and that’s on all of us,” Daboll said. “But felt like this was a decision that we had to make here and try to shake things up, change things. We went and did that with Tommy. Again, we spent a lot of time here over the last week evaluating a lot of things and just felt this was the best for us.

“We have a lot of football ahead of us. I think we all have to be committed to doing everything we can do to close the season the right way and just take it one week at a time. That’s where our the focus is going to be with Tampa and certainly all the problems that they present defensively, especially on the offensive side. The only thing we control is how the season has been so far. We put a lot of time, effort and energy into this, and that’s what we all want to do.”

Jones’ last game as a starter was a 20-17 overtime loss to the Carolina Panthers eight days ago in Munich. The Giants scored just two touchdowns against the NFL’s lowest-rated defense. Jones threw for 190 yards and no touchdowns (though he did score on a 2-yard run).

The sixth pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, Jones has been the starter when healthy since replacing Eli Manning three games into this rookie season. Two years ago, Jones led the Giants to a 9-6-1 record (he didn’t play in the season finale) plus an NFC Wild Card Game win at Minnesota. But neither Jones nor the team has been able to recreate that success.

“I think it’s all-encompassing,” Daboll said. “It’s on everybody. It’s just not on Daniel (Jones). It’s on me. It’s on a whole offensive performance. So again, making this decision to try to turn it on and give Tommy an opportunity. He did some good things when he was in there and he played as a rookie and I know he’s eager for the opportunity.”

Jones is 24-44-1 (.355) as a regular season starter with 85 total touchdowns (70 passing, 15 rushing) and 83 turnovers (47 interceptions, 26 fumbles). He threw 24 touchdown passes as a rookie, but his high total since then was 15 in 2022. Jones missed games due to injury in four of his six seasons and was limited to six games in 2023 due to a neck problem and torn ACL.

Jones has started every game this season and has thrown eight touchdown passes and seven interceptions in 10 games.

His future will be decided later. The immediate concern for Daboll and the Giants is defeating Tampa Bay on Sunday.

“I’m excited to see what Tommy brings to the table,” Daboll said. “That’s why he’s out there. We had a lot of conversations. Studied a lot of things. Again, (we) have confidence in Tommy and that’s why he’s in there.”