Quarterback Daniel Jones was demoted from starter to No. 3, spelling the beginning of the end to his career with the New York Giants.
Tommy DeVito will start for the Giants (2-8) on Sunday against the visiting Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Drew Lock will be his backup, head coach Brian Daboll said Monday morning.
“We’re making a quarterback swith here from Daniel,” Daboll said at the open of his Monday press conference. “We’re going to go with Tommy. I spoke with all the quarterbacks this morning before our morning meeting to let them know what the direction we’re going. Those are never easy conversations. I’ve got a lot of respect for all three of those guys.
“After evaluating a bunch of things and looking at a lot of tape — and being around Tommy last year where he created a lot of spark for us — that’s the reason why we’re going with Tommy. Drew will be the backup, continue to work with him. He’s been nothing but a pro. As has Daniel. It’s never an easy conversation to have with the players.”
Daboll said Jones was in the building and planned to stay with the team after their discussion before the team meeting. There is precedent for starting quarterbacks separating from the team in this scenario. In 2022, the Raiders made starter Derek Carr inactive for the final two games of the season to avoid being stuck with injury guarantees in his contract and he chose to stay away from the team knowing he wouldn’t re-enter the lineup.
The decision to demote Jones was foreshadowed by general manager Joe Schoen last week before the Giants entered the bye week. Schoen said Jones and the entire roster would be subject to evaluation of on-field performance. The GM said if Jones was benched it would not be tied to his $23 million injury guarantee.
“It’s never an easy conversation to have with the players. But I felt like this was a necessary move for us,” Daboll said.
The Giants own the league’s lowest scoring offense at an average of 15.6 point per game. New York has averaged only 13.4 points during the current five-game losing streak, with the latest setback being a 20-17 overtime loss to Carolina in Germany in which Jones threw for 190 yards and no touchdowns while getting intercepted twice.
“We felt like this was a decision that we needed to make here to try to spark things, change things up,” Daboll said.
Daboll had declined to commit to Jones last week when pressed about whether he would remain the starting quarterback. Schoen echoed that sentiment a day later. Schoen insisted all decisions would be driven by what helps the Giants win games.
“It will be a football decision,” Schoen said. “Any decisions we make moving forward as we evaluate the roster and what we’re doing for the final seven games will be football decisions.”
The Giants’ interest in QB prospects in the 2024 draft was on display in the “Hard Knocks” offseason series, and they signed Lock from the Seattle Seahawks after meeting with Russell Wilson. Lock’s contract included $5 million guaranteed, and there was an outside expectation that the former Broncos starter could get a shot in New York.
An undrafted free agent, DeVito played in nine games (six starts) as a rookie last season following Jones’ season-ending knee injury. DeVito, 26, was 3-3 as a starter, throwing for 1,101 yards with eight touchdowns and three interceptions.
This season, Jones has completed 63.3 percent of his passes for 2,070 yards and eight touchdowns against seven interceptions. The 27-year-old is in the second year of a four-year, $160 million contract. He is due to earn $30 million in base salary in 2025, with $12 million fully guaranteed on the fifth day of the league season.
Jones’ future has been under increased scrutiny with Daboll and Schoen inspiring doubt about his status in recent weeks.
“We have seven games left in this season and that’s what we’re focused on,” Schoen said. “I’m focused on 2024 and how we can get better these final seven games.”
Daboll and Schoen have come under scrutiny in their third season with the franchise.
Schoen said he expected to be back with the Giants next season but didn’t directly endorse Daboll.
“We’re 2-8. So, again, we’re going to look at solutions,” Schoen said. “(Daboll is) coming in every day. He’s working hard. The team is staying together.
“He’s done a really good job, the guys are competing, keeping the locker room together. Again, there’s a lot of things that we can look at and we need to improve on.”
–Field Level Media
