Giants' Drew Lock disappointed he wasn't named starting quarterback

When Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen told their quarterbacks the plan moving forward on Monday morning they called them into the office individually. First they told Daniel Jones, then Drew Lock, and then Tommy DeVito.

Lock had to pause and even smile through his disappointment at the symbolism as he relayed that order to reporters on Wednesday. The sequence in which they were informed was supposed to be the sequence in which they would play, Lock second behind Jones and DeVito bringing up the rear. Instead Lock, who had been the No. 2 all season long and signed here in the spring believing he would be given the first opportunity should Jones get hurt or benched, was leapfrogged by DeVito, the new starter. In a week in which the Giants played musical chairs with their quarterbacks, Lock somehow remained seated in the same position.

“I was professional,” he said of his reaction in that meeting. “I didn’t scream and yell. I said ‘Look, I’m going to do everything I can to help, but I can’t sit here and say I am not upset or disappointed in the decision’ … If you get to be the backup all year and the time comes and you end up still being a backup, you’re upset. You want to be playing. Everybody wants to play.”

Lock was signed to a one-year, $5 million contract in March. He believed at the time it could be a chance to revive his career the way Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, and others have. He said he did not feel misled by the Giants during those negotiations, but added: “Obviously, the situation can be looked at as that. Maybe I just don’t want to think that or feel that.”

He also said he was confused by the Giants keeping him as the backup all season, including beyond the recent point where the backup was needed, and was given murky answers as to why they went with DeVito over him.

“They couldn’t tangibly put it into Xs and Os but there was a feeling when he played [last year] and I didn’t get to show that to them,” he said.

“Obviously [Lock] would’ve liked to be the starter and I understand that,” Daboll said. “But the spark that Tommy gave, not just the offense but the team last year, I think is important.”

So now the quarterbacks are in their new order. DeVito first, then Lock. Then either Jones or newly signed practice squad addition Tim Boyle. Only one of them is happy about it.

“But my disappointment will not show one bit around anyone in this facility after that meeting,” Lock vowed. “I’ll handle this like a pro. That’s something I pride myself in, not being a guy who tears the locker room apart because of this, being a guy who builds it up.”

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.