EAST RUTHERFORD – Tommy DeVito was asked this summer what he believed he showed the NFL through the ups and downs of his rookie season with the New York Giants.
“That I can play,” DeVito quipped. “That I belong.”
Now DeVito will receive another chance to convince the Giants – and everyone else – if that’s true again.
The Tommy DeVito experience is getting a second act with Big Blue with the Giants deciding to bench Daniel Jones as starting quarterback with the plan to start the former Don Bosco star and Cedar Grove native against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium. Two individuals informed of the decision to start DeVito and bench Jones confirmed the moves for NorthJersey.com on Monday morning.
Giants coach Brian Daboll is set to address reporters on a video call at 11:45 a.m.
The Giants are 2-8, and Jones has lost 13 of his last 16 starts dating back to the beginning of the 2023 season, including five home games this season in which he has been booed vociferously with the rest of the offense for a majority of their time inside the supposed friendly confines of the Meadowlands.
GIANTS’ NEXT QB:Who will be Giants quarterback in 2025? See the candidates
DeVito knew the deal this summer. He stared down the NFL odds as an undrafted rookie last season and, for all intents and purposes, defied them. But the Giants decided to bring veteran Drew Lock in as Jones’ backup on a one-year, $5 million deal, bypassing DeVito without giving him a legitimate chance at winning the No. 2 job.
DeVito was well aware that the deck was again stacked against him as he went through training camp. This time, he was much more of a proven commodity in league circles – especially around here – so when it came time for the Giants to make their final cuts, they kept DeVito on the active roster, refusing to let him go elsewhere for another opportunity.
DeVito, 26, has served as the emergency third quarterback all season behind Jones and Drew Lock, who was signed in March to a one-year, $5 million deal to begin the 2024 campaign as the backup. Neither Lock nor DeVito have received reps in practice with the first-team offense over the season’s first 10 weeks, and the Giants returned from the bye week with Brian Daboll having made the decision to go with DeVito, sending Jones to the sideline.
The expectation is that Lock will remain the No. 2 quarterback and Jones will serve as the emergency third QB, inactive on game days. Jones has an injury clause in his current contract that would trigger a $23 million guarantee if he were to suffer a serious injury that would prevent him from passing a physical when the new league year begins in March.
Lock was signed to be the backup when the Giants had yet to play a game this season. Last week, in his bye week news conference, Schoen said the quarterback scenario would play out as “a football decision.”
That was initially believed to be a response to Jones’ injury guarantee, but that also applies to Lock’s $5 million salary versus DeVito and his minimum deal of $915,000 for this season. DeVito has experience in this offense and Lock missed most of the preseason with a hip injury.
Also, DeVito is under contract for next season at the Giants’ option – he’s an exclusive rights free agent – so makes some sense to see his development over the final seven games.
How Tommy DeVito took NFL by storm last year
From fans to the players — heck, the entire organization — the Giants embraced DeVito’s story last season.
And for all DeVito accomplished, completing 114 of 178 passes for 1,101 yards with eight touchdowns and three interceptions, the Giants seemingly entered this offseason with the intention to build their quarterback depth chart with the undrafted underdog on the periphery of any plans.
It’s been a wild and unexpected ride for one of North Jersey’s own, from his high school days as a star at Don Bosco to the NFL as a long shot, becoming a hero for the salute to his Italian heritage with his “finger purse” touchdown celebration, leading to cult status at local delis and sandwiches named in his honor.
DeVito doesn’t live in his childhood home anymore. He’s all grown up from that perspective, and he has attempted to move past the “finger purse” this season, continuing to work behind the scenes on lessons learned last season.
Beyond all of the fanfare, the football from DeVito was better than expected, too. Was it perfect? Hardly. But no one expected that to be the case, DeVito included. The Giants watched him work, putting in extra time just to stay on the radar of the coaching staff, most notably Daboll and quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney, who has added a passing game coordinator title, and the players bought in.
Beyond the emojis, sandwiches and locally crafted beer named for “Tommy Cutlets,” and all those memes from “The Sopranos” and “Goodfellas,” DeVito played the position better than he should have been capable of doing at that stage of his development. He spent months fighting for scraps on the practice field, his reps limited to a share of scout team work until Tyrod Taylor was injured Oct. 29 against the Jets.
The Giants saw DeVito’s grind. His personality was engaging, his swagger contagious. In what had been a lost season for the Giants to this point, the investment in the local kid from Jersey who was not supposed to be there was real, as DeVito won three games as a starter before heading back to the bench over the final three weeks of the campaign.
DeVito was benched at halftime of last season’s Christmas Day game in Philadelphia when Taylor took over with Daboll seeking a spark. Now he’s back as the starter with a chance to show how far he has come all these months later.
