What Tommy DeVito Brings to the Giants Offense That Daniel Jones Doesn't

The New York Giants have made the move from Daniel Jones to Tommy DeVito. How do these two quarterbacks differ?

Aug 24, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito (15) passes the ball against the New York Jets during the second half at MetLife Stadium. / Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

On Monday, the New York Giants made the announcement that many Giants fans were hoping would come: starting quarterback Daniel Jones will ride the bench the rest of the season.

The surprise, though was that instead of naming Drew Lock as the starter, head coach Brian Daboll named Tommy DeVito, who was the emergency quarterback for the first ten games, the starter.

This obviously isn’t DeVito’s first rodeo. He started six games in 2023 and went 3-3 with a 64% completion percentage, eight touchdowns, and three interceptions with 195 rushing yards and a touchdown.

Was this enough to justify rolling with DeVito over Lock? Personally, I think the decision stems from two things: familiarity with the system and future evaluation.

DeVito is in the final year of his contract so the Giants will need to figure out if they think he can be their backup quarterback of the future.

As mentioned earlier, DeVito was the starting quarterback for six games in 2023 whereas Lock just signed with the team this offseason and missed valuable preseason reps due to injury.

DeVito has some traits that should elevate areas of the Giants offense while obviously not possessing the physical tools that Jones has.

He will never contribute on the ground the way that Jones is capable of as either a scrambler or part of the option game, but he does make quick decisions and has shown the ability to run the RPO effectively.

For clarity purposes, when talking about the option, I am referring to what is commonly called the zone read (despite there being many variations).

When talking about RPOs, I am talking mostly about giving the quarterback the option to hand the ball off, keep it himself, or throw the ball.

DeVito may be limited but he’s proven consistently through his rookie year and this preseason that he’s going to make a decision and throw quickly.

There’s a common thought in football (and life) that hesitancy is worse than a decisive mistake. Quarterbacks are going to make mistakes but if they’re making mistakes decisively and confidently, that’s better than making mistakes because they are hesitating.

DeVito is more willing to hang and bang through pressure than Jones, although that does open him up to taking more hits and sacks.

I don’t think that DeVito is necessarily a “better” quarterback than Jones–and even if he were I don’t think either of them are starter-quality. But I do think Devito can keep the offense on schedule better.

Neither quarterback has plus arm talent and I think both are quarterbacks that you can win with but neither are quarterbacks that you win because of.

After the loss to the Panthers, I wrote about how Jones doesn’t put players in a position to succeed after the catch because receivers have to stop momentum in order to make catches.

In 2023, Giants receivers averaged a full yard after the catch more when DeVito was throwing the ball compared to Jones. So this should help the offense.

The Giants are in a spot where keeping the offense on schedule needs to be a priority and DeVito simply has better placement on those underneath throws to put receivers in position to run.

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