Giants QB Tommy DeVito Reveals Summer Objective

Faced with an uphill battle for a roster spot, DeVito hopes to force the Giants' hand into keeping him by playing lights out in the preseason.

East Rutherford, NJ -- July 24, 2024 -- Quarterback Tommy DeVito during the first day of training camp for the 2024 New York Giants. / Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com / USA

Make ‘em choose. That’s the goal of New York Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito, the Cedar Grove, New Jersey native who last year stepped into the starting lineup after Daniel Jones and Tyrod Taylor went down to injuries and propelled the Giants to a three-game winning streak that kept their fading playoff hopes alive.

While some might have thought DeVito did enough to warrant serious consideration for QB2 on the team, that doesn’t appear to be in the cards, not after the team went out and signed Drew Lock to a $5 million contract in the offseason. Barring something catastrophic happening, Lock, who replaces Taylor, will be the QB2.

So where does that leave the 25-year-old DeVito? The Giants typically don’t carry three quarterbacks on the roster, often because they have had to carry extra bodies at other positions that have been banged up due to injury.

But here’s the dilemma the team faces. If DeVito plays well this preseason, slipping him through waivers and onto the practice squad could be tricky.

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And even if they were to accomplish that, given DeVito’s experience and maturity in showing that the game isn’t too big for him, there’s no guarantee that he’ll agree to sit on the practice squad should another team come wanting to sign him to a bigger contract for their 53-man roster.

Therein lies the dilemma for the Giants, who, remember, have an injury-prone quarterback named Daniel Jones. And DeVito doesn’t plan to make their decision any easier.

“I’m going to put them in a situation to make a decision,” DeVito told the New York Post after Sunday’s practice. “It’s going to be up to them. I’m going to go out and do my job to the highest ability. It’s not in my hands — this decision.”    

Of course, the Giants could decide to play Jones and Lock in the preseason and deploy DeVito sparingly, but that’s unlikely. The team will no doubt want to limit, if not hold, Jones out of meaningless preseason games as he continues the final stages of his rehab from a torn ACL.

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There is also always the possibility of DeVito stumbling in preseason games, though with no game planning and him likely to face players who might not even be on an NFL roster this fall, that’s unlikely.

What DeVito does have in his favor is the new IR rule, which allows a team to designate two players for return on the final roster cutdown date from 90 to 53. In the past, players who were placed on IR at the final cutdown date were lost for the season.

By taking advantage of this rule, the Giants won’t have to carry extra players at positions where there are injuries.

However, the team may have to make another decision that could affect their numbers, and that is what they plan to do in response to the new kickoff rule. Do the Giants plan to carry an extra kicker to handle kickoffs to keep 37-year-old Graham Gano out of the line of fire?  

Head coach Brian Daboll predictably didn’t explain the situation other than acknowledging that after cutting Nathan Rouke, the plan was to keep three quarterbacks on the roster “right now.” 

As to whether that will still be the case for the regular season, Daboll said, “I understand the question. It's pretty early right now, so we'll go through training camp and see how it goes.”

DeVito knows that such a decision is out of his control. “That’s up to them to make that decision, make that gamble,” he said. “I’m going to continue to play. We’ll see how everything unfolds.”

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