After using their Week 11 bye to consider their options, the New York Giants made a quarterback change heading into Week 12.
Big Blue benched longtime starter Daniel Jones after his season-long struggles, removing the former first-round pick in favor of second-year quarterback Tommy DeVito. Then, the Giants took things a step further by cutting Jones last Friday (Nov. 22).
What does New York’s QB depth chart look like entering the club’s Thanksgiving Day game against the Dallas Cowboys? Here’s how the Giants’ signal-callers stack up in Week 13.
New York Giants QB Depth Chart in Week 13
1) Tommy DeVito
Tommy Cutlets is back under center for the Giants. DeVito made six starts for New York last season after Jones and then-Giants backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor suffered injuries, and he’s the club’s QB1 for now.
Facing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 12, DeVito completed 21 of 31 attempts for 191 scoreless yards while taking four sacks in New York’s 30-7 loss.
DeVito earned a C- (72.1) score in PFN’s QB+ grades, 16th among the 22 quarterbacks who started on Sunday. Week 12 was the third-best game of DeVito’s career by QB+.
“It was tough in the first half,” DeVito said after losing to the Bucs. “Just figuring out what they were doing. I know it sounds cliché, but it just comes down to execution. Started to get a little bit fast in the third quarter, we finally got things clicking.
“Kind of slowed them down a little bit defensively because they were bringing a lot of pressure early on. I was just starting to figure that out and just let everybody just play. We started to get going, but it was too late.”
The New Jersey native went 3-3 in his 2023 appearances, completing 64% of his passes for 1,101 yards, eight touchdowns, and three interceptions. However, those statistics paint a rosier picture of DeVito’s production than advanced metrics.
In his six starts, DeVito ranked 28th of 32 qualified passers in expected points added (EPA) per dropback (-0.15). He was 30th in passing success rate (35.2%) — only Justin Fields and Bryce Young were less consistent on a down-by-down basis from Weeks 10 to 15 in 2023.
Giants head coach Brian Daboll did not commit to DeVito starting the rest of the season when he tunrd to the second-year QB last week. However, DeVito is expected to start against Dallas on Thursday.
2) Drew Lock
By all accounts, Drew Lock should’ve been poised to take over as the Giants’ starting quarterback when the club decided to bench and cut Jones last week.
Instead, Lock stuck in his backup role and played behind DeVito in Week 12. The veteran backup quarterback admitted that he was surprised by New York’s decision to bypass him in favor of DeVito.
“Again, that’s a question I might still have for myself,” Lock said last week. “It was expressed to me that I was going to be the two. I don’t know, it’s an interesting situation.
“Not much I can really say about it besides I’m going to be here for him (DeVito), and we’re still very good friends, believe it or not. I’m going to be here for him. This team needs to get a win. We start winning, everything gets a little better around here.”
Lock completed just four of 10 passes for 17 yards and an interception during the preseason. Ninety-three quarterbacks took at least 10 dropbacks in the 2024 exhibition season; Lock’s efficiency (-0.98) ranked 92nd.
Still, it’s hard to imagine that the Giants used that small sample size to determine whether Lock should start. New York gave him a one-year, $5 million contract this offseason with $4.95 million guaranteed. When they signed him in March, Daboll and GM Joe Schoen envisioned Lock as their backup quarterback.
3) Tim Boyle
Jones was set to be the Giants’ QB3 if he’d remained on the roster.
While Jones’ performance was undoubtedly a factor in his benching, his contract was the driving force. Jones had $23 million guaranteed for injury in 2025. If he’d been injured over the back half of the 2024 campaign and couldn’t pass a physical next spring, the Giants would’ve been on the hook for that money. As such, Big Blue wanted to keep Jones as far away from the field as possible.
Now that Jones has been waived, New York technically doesn’t have a No. 3 quarterback on its active roster.
However, the Giants signed QB Tim Boyle to their practice squad on Nov. 19. Big Blue elevated him in Week 12 to serve as their emergency quarterback. Boyle could only have entered Sunday’s game if DeVito and Lock had been injured.