The New York Giants have made a major change following their Week 11 bye. After tremendous struggles (and a huge contract), the Giants benched their embattled quarterback Daniel Jones.
Head coach Brian Daboll announced the change on Monday, naming Tommy DeVito as the new starter moving forward. While Drew Lock signed a $5 million contract with the Giants as their backup quarterback, Daboll said they made the decision after spending time during the bye week watching tape and having discussions about the future of the team. Jones will be the third-string quarterback.
Coach Daboll: We’re making a quarterback switch from Daniel Jones to Tommy DeVito. After evaluating and watching a lot of tape, that is the reason we started working with Tommy. Drew Lock will be the backup. This was a necessary step for us and I look forward to working with Tommy… pic.twitter.com/OTPmSCIq0P
— New York Giants (@Giants) November 18, 2024
Jones, 27, was the immediate replacement for franchise legend Eli Manning. Jones essentially took over for Manning during the 2019 NFL season and impressed under then-head coach Pat Shurmur. Jones spent the next two seasons under head coach Joe Judge until he was fired and replaced by Daboll. It was Daboll who led the unexpectedly not-terrible 2022 Giants, a team that performed better in the divisional round of the playoffs.
It was the 2022 season that essentially got the Giants into the mess they are in now. They posted a 9-7-1 mark, their best record since 2016, and made the play-offs, thanks in no small part to the confident football Jones played. That season is what led general manager Joe Schoen to offer Jones a four-year contract worth $160 million in March 2023.
Jones signed the contract, leaving the Giants with not enough money to sign running back Saquon Barkley long-term. So they tagged Barkley into the franchise in 2023, which started the deterioration of their relationship. As we saw on the offseason edition of HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” the Giants no longer saw a star like Barkley as a must-have for their offense, so Barkley took his talents to Philadelphia, a team that was more than happy to pay for an attacking difference maker like him.
The 2023 season was essentially a lost season for Jones. Through his first five games, he had two passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown, all of which came in the same game, while throwing six interceptions. He injured his neck in Week 5, but when he finally returned in Week 9 he tore the ACL in his right knee, ending his season.
The Giants are 2-8 this season. They are in last place in the NFC East and tied for the worst record in the NFL. It’s a long, long, long road back to the top from here, but by benching Jones they have finally started that journey.
