Giants Country

Giants Fans Support Decision to Name Tommy DeVito Starter Over Drew Lock

The New York Giants' benching of Daniel Jones came as no surprise. Who they named as the new starter, however, did.

Stephen Lebitsch

Nov 8, 2024; Munich, Germany; New York Giants quarterbacks Drew Lock (2) and Tommy DeVito (15) during practice at the FC Bayern Munchen training grounds at Sabener Strasse. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Nov 8, 2024; Munich, Germany; New York Giants quarterbacks Drew Lock (2) and Tommy DeVito (15) during practice at the FC Bayern Munchen training grounds at Sabener Strasse. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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It may have been a decision nearly six full seasons in the making, but it has finally happened: The New York Giants have benched quarterback Daniel Jones, putting an ungracious end to his run as the main guy in East Rutherford. 

The gauntlet came down after team-wide evaluations during the Giants’ bye week. It was a process that general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll reiterated to the media would be solely a “football decision,” and it comes on the heels of Jones flailing in another game against the Carolina Panthers, the worst team in the NFL, to fall to 2-8 on the season. 

While the verdict surprised nobody on the outside, it did send a mild shockwave through the locker room for those who didn’t think Jones was the sole culprit to the team’s problems. 

Still, the only thing left to know was who would be replacing him at the helm for the rest of the season, and the regime went with third-string quarterback Tommy DeVito to leapfrog backup Drew Lock. 

As Daboll admitted on Monday, it wasn’t an easy call and one that drew some criticism from the public eye. On the fan side, however, a whopping 69 percent of Giants fans who voted in a recent poll by Giants on SI publisher Patricia Traina seem to agree with the decision to give DeVito his second chance at the starting job while retaining Lock as the No. 2 guy.

The poll's sentiment seems to show that the fanbase doesn’t have the wool pulled over their eyes in terms of the franchise’s thinking about tapping DeVito. They know the change might have been merely a football decision in terms of benching Jones, but it’s far beyond the same story regarding the differences between him and Locke. 

The first issue was the financial situation between the two replacement gunslingers. Lock joined the Giants in the offseason on a $5 million contract to serve as Jones’ backup, a deal that included up to $3 million in playing and performance-based incentives that would further encircle the Giants' cap space should he start to surpass them under center. 

On the other hand, DeVito, who will be an exclusive rights free agent in the offseason, would allow the Giants' offense to potentially reserve those funds for any transactions during the remainder of the season and go with a guy who has experience playing under the Daboll system in the 2023 campaign. 

In nine games played last season, which came in the aftermath of Jones and backup Tyrod Taylor succumbing to ACL and rib injuries, respectively, DeVito led the Giants to a 4-6 record that helped salvage a little bit of a lost season and did it behind 114 completions for 1,101 yards, eight touchdowns and three interceptions in that span. 

Whereas the offense struggled under Jones to get going, DeVito helped manage the huddle and kept the team out of the turnover woes that marked his predecessor's tenure. This really showed in a three-game win streak against the Commanders, Patriots, and Packers, during which he threw for at least 158 yards and five touchdowns and kept the ball clean in the pocket. 

The Giants couldn’t find the same results when Lock had his opportunities on the field. Despite taking all the No. 2 snaps throughout camp, he didn't look impressive in the preseason. He couldn’t advance a single drive in his one quarter’s worth of action in Week 7 against the Philadelphia Eagles when he relieved Jones in the team’s blowout loss. 

The only backlash to the whole DeVito resurgence has been the fact that the Giants were already paying Lock a decent chunk of change to serve as the first replacement only to have him not earn a full game’s work, but that is exactly the main reason why they are moving on from Jones at this stage of the season to prevent any injuries or play from sucking more out of their already stringent cap space that will only get trickier once the two sides part ways. 

What can be agreed upon is that New York needed a change at the quarterback position for many reasons, one of which is to see if they can once again salvage a year that has gone further south from the nine-win campaign they had at the start of the Schoen-Daboll regime. If they don’t and the losses continue to pile up, it could lead to more widespread change that has defined the franchise repeatedly in the last near decade.

The Giants are trying their best to maintain continuity in terms of their leadership and make it to next season with potentially a rookie gunslinger to breed for the future. However, they need to get there first, and they believe Tommy DeVito is the best option for that goal. It seems a majority of the fanbase is right there behind their inclination.

Next. 11/20: Lock Operns Up About Being PAssed Over. Drew Lock Opens Up About Being Passed Over for Giants' Starting Job . dark

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Stephen Lebitsch
STEPHEN LEBITSCH

“Stephen Lebitsch is a graduate of Fordham University, Class of 2021, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Communications (with a minor in Sports Journalism) and spent three years as a staff writer for The Fordham Ram. With his education and immense passion for the space, he is looking to transfer his knowledge and talents into a career in the sports media industry. Along with his work for the FanNation network and Giants Country, Stephen’s stops include Minute Media and Talking Points Sports.

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