Giants quarterback Daniel Jones has been benched, and Drew Lock, the presumptive backup, won’t be elevated into the starting role. Enter (again) Tommy DeVito.
Brian Daboll had use for DeVito last year. Once Tyrod Taylor was healthy to start, Daboll couldn’t wait to bench DeVito, and it happened on Christmas Day when the Giants played the Eagles.
DeVito celebrates in 2023 with OG Ben Bredeson (photo, CNN)
This year, Daboll hyped Lock as a capable backup, and you thought DeVito’s days in New York were over. So why isn’t Lock starting? I believe Daboll is coaching for his job, and DeVito gives him a better chance of succeeding. But I still don’t understand why this move didn’t come earlier. Daboll didn’t turn to DeVito before and didn’t give DeVito a lot of snaps in the preseason either.
To rely on a third-string quarterback to save the head coach’s job is something, especially when the head coach would prefer not to.
DeVito started last season after Jones was out for the season with an ACL tear on his right knee. He won three games until he began to struggle against the Saints. DeVito should have had an opportunity to work out of those struggles, but the staff decided to switch to Taylor. Why? Daboll doesn’t seem to be sold on DeVito’s skills, including his accuracy. Consider this. When DeVito relieved Taylor (ribs) in the Jets game, Daboll told his quarterback not to throw.
That was then. In the offseason, Daboll and Giants GM Joe Schoen looked over the market for a backup quarterback and settled on Lock. So, again, why not go with him and validate this $5 million guaranteed signing? One reason is that there’s no doubt Giants owner John Mara was involved in the decision to bench Jones, not start Lock, and reinstate DeVito as the starter.
Mara is undoubtedly aware that–at least from a fan’s perspective–DeVito is preferred over Lock. So, did Mara dictate DeVito’s reinstatement? Whether the answer is yes or no, Daboll has no choice but to hope DeVito works out. If the Giants continue to struggle offensively and lose games, it’s a good bet that Daboll is toast. Besides, DeVito won games last year mainly because he has the grit to win games. Moreover, the move to DeVito incentivizes fans to continue watching the team play. Otherwise, why bother?
Ironically, even if DeVito wins and saves Daboll’s job, the head coach will be criticized for not starting him earlier. That’s just one thread of the tangled web that Daboll has weaved.
But then, QB controversies aren’t new for the Giants. Remember when fans were furious when then-GM Jerry Reese and then-coach Ben McAdoo started Geno Smith over Eli Manning? Smith played such a pedestrian game against the Raiders that Mara fired both of them, and Manning got his job back.
This year’s reality show will premiere on Sunday when the Buccaneers travel to MetLife Stadium for a 1 p.m. kickoff. Tampa Bay is favored, -5.5, with an ESPN Match-Up Prediction of a 70% chance of winning. That seems like business as usual for the Giants, a team that hasn’t won since October 6.
