Giants HC Brian Daboll names starting QB for Week 16

The Saints pumped the brakes on Tommy DeVito's recent run, sacking him seven times in a one-sided Week 15 loss. Absorbing a concerning number of sacks is nothing new for DeVito, but the Giants had entered their Superdome date on a three-game win streak.

Brian Daboll confirmed DeVito remains the team’s starter over Tyrod Taylor. The Giants activated Taylor from IR before their Week 14 win over the Packers but will continue to evaluate DeVito for 2024. With Taylor in the final weeks of his two-year Giants contract, NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo notes (video link) the team is using this window to see if DeVito can be its backup next season.

DeVito’s recent stretch has complicated matters for the Giants. Following Daniel Jones' ACL tear, Taylor suffered four broken ribs. This left an undrafted free-agent rookie — one Daboll kept on a tight leash in an ugly loss to the Jets that featured almost nothing but handoffs on the Giants’ part — piloting a team that hovered near the top of the 2024 draft board. The ensuing three DeVito-quarterbacked wins leave the Giants at 5-9. The NFL has five 5-9 teams, creating a pivotal stretch — for draft positioning, at least — over the final three weeks, but the team is no longer a realistic candidate to land a top-two pick. This gives Jones a smoother runway toward a return as the Giants’ unquestioned starter.

DeVito is not a serious threat to supplant Jones, Garafolo adds, and the recently re-signed starter is aiming to return from his ACL tear by training camp. That would solve some problems for the Giants, who did not exactly see encouraging work from their $40M-per-year passer before his injury. But GM Joe Schoen said the team would look to add a quarterback in the offseason. DeVito’s improvements may have adjusted the team’s thinking here, but with Taylor heading toward free agency, the team would at least need another arm for 2024. DeVito’s final games may determine if the Giants target a true backup option or a third-stringer-type presence.

Taylor has now been benched by four teams since 2018. The Browns sat their trade pickup for No. 1 pick Baker Mayfield, while the pregame injection snafu in Los Angeles introduced the NFL world to Justin Herbert in 2020. The Texans began their Deshaun Watson healthy-scratch year with Taylor under center, but Davis Mills eventually replaced him. Taylor had operated as Jones’ backup, but the rib injury brought in DeVito. Taylor expressed disappointment about Daboll’s decision, and the journeyman QB is expected to depart soon.

DeVito, who admittedly has just one 200-yard passing performance in five starts, showing enough to be considered a long-term QB2 would help the Giants a bit; he is tied to a league-minimum deal. DeVito’s extended look as a starter has also cost Taylor a bit of dough. Taylor carried $1M in 2023 playing-time and performance incentives. Reaching the 40% and 50% snap thresholds would have provided him $250K apiece, per The Athletic’s Dan Duggan. A Taylor 92.5 passer rating and 65% completion rate would also lead to $250K apiece. The 34-year-old veteran, however, has only attempted 91 passes this season.

This surprising DeVito storyline came to fruition in part because he turned down opportunities to join the Commanders (as a UDFA) and the Patriots (as a practice squad arm post-training camp). The New Jersey native transferred from Syracuse to Illinois in 2022 and hoped the NCAA would grant him a waiver to play in 2023, which would have made him a rare seventh-year senior. Once that did not go through, Illinois HC Bret Bielema — a Giants assistant under Joe Judge in 2020 — helped convince DeVito to turn down multiple other opportunities after the Giants waived him following training camp, the New York Post’s Ryan Dunleavy notes.

DeVito’s decision to stick around on the Giants practice squad could result in him becoming a long-term part of the team’s future, but he will probably need to impress over the team’s final three games to both hold off Taylor and show team brass he can be a true backup to Jones.