Tommy DeVito to start at quarterback for Giants vs. Cowboys; Matt Barkley named backup
Tommy DeVito of the Giants celebrates his third-quarter touchdown run against the Jets at MetLife Stadium on Oct. 29. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Tommy DeVito’s dream will come true on Sunday when he makes his first start as the Giants’ quarterback at Dallas.
It’s something less than a dream for the Giants. With Daniel Jones and Tyrod Taylor out, they had little choice but to turn to DeVito, the undrafted rookie free agent who grew up in Livingston, New Jersey (as a Steelers fan, not a Giants fan).
Coach Brian Daboll made the announcement before Wednesday’s practice. His other choices were veteran Matt Barkley, who the Giants signed last week and who Daboll said needs to get in shape, or Jacob Eason, who the Giants signed to the practice squad on Tuesday and who's thrown a total of 10 passes in his NFL career.
So, not much of a choice.
“He’s been here a long time,” Daboll said of DeVito. “He’s picked up our stuff. So we’re going to go with DeVito here. Bark’s only been here for a week. There’s obviously nuances and things that he’s learning, but he’ll be ready to go to back him up.”
Said DeVito: “I think it's a shock to everybody, right? Not to have one quarterback, but to have two quarterbacks go down? I mean, it's tough. The quarterback position runs the team and to have '1' and '2' go down like that, you would have never guessed that [would] happen. But it’s a physical game. Injuries happen as part of it. It’s the worst part about the game. But now it's the next-man-up mentality.”
DeVito, 25, made his first appearance in the Giants’ 13-10 overtime loss to the Jets on Oct. 29 after Taylor went out with a rib injury. DeVito mostly handed off in the rain. He completed 2 of 7 passes for minus-1 yard.
DeVito then relieved Jones after the Giants’ No. 1 QB suffered a season-ending ACL tear on Sunday at Las Vegas. DeVito completed 15 of 20 passes for 175 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. He rushed four times for 17 yards. The Giants lost, 30-6, to fall to 2-7.
This time, DeVito will take reps all week with the offense, something he didn’t do before either of his relief appearances. That should help. But the Cowboys’ pass rushers are probably licking their chops at the idea of going against a rookie quarterback who is playing in front of a questionable offensive line.
DeVito would be the first rookie free agent to start a regular-season game for the Giants in the common draft era (except for Jim Crocicchia in a 1987 strike-replacement game).
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, nine undrafted rookie quarterbacks have started an NFL game since 2010, including Chicago's Tyson Bagent this season. The others are Anthony Brown, Devlin Hodges, David Blough, Kyle Allen, Connor Shaw, Matt McGloin, Jeff Tuel and Max Hall.
The combined career record of those nine quarterbacks is 7-20. But in their starting debuts, they were 5-4, including Bagent's victory against Las Vegas on Oct. 22.
“I’m not really thinking too much about it, honestly,” DeVito said. “If anything, it’s the outside - like the family, the friends. Everybody that’s been reaching out. I think that's been like the kind of shock of it. But I mean, for me, it's just football, right? It's another day. It's a game that I’ve been playing since I was real young. There’s going to be some emotion here, especially with a great supposed atmosphere in Dallas. I've not been there. I’ve heard it’s a really nice stadium. I’m looking forward to it.”
Nice story. But not the one the Giants wanted to be thinking about in 2023, or ever. How did it come to this?
“Well, injuries,” Daboll said. “We’ll start with that. Two guys that were ahead of him got injured. He’s the third guy. He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do. He’s prepared well and he’s got an opportunity.”
Daboll had Barkley in Buffalo. Barkley, 33, has also played for Philadelphia and Chicago. Daboll indicated that Barkley needs to work on his conditioning.
“He’s working out, doing his cardio,” Daboll said.
Taylor is eligible to return from injured reserve in Week 14.
Notes & quotes: The Giants opened a 21-day window for LB Azeez Ojulari, who is on injured reserve, to practice. They hope Ojulari will be able to come off IR on Sunday . . . Daboll said OT Evan Neal is “week-to-week” with a left ankle sprain suffered on Sunday. Neal had just returned from a right ankle sprain . . . CB Adoree’ Jackson and RB Deon Jackson are in the concussion protocol . . . Daboll said he spoke with Xavier McKinney after the safety criticized the Giants’ coaching staff following Sunday’s loss. “X and I had a conversation,” Daboll said. “It went good.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
