Is Tommy DeVito actually a good quarterback?

The New York Giants have turned the page to Tommy DeVito after their 2-8 start. The undrafted second-year player out of Illinois sparked interest last season when the local kid led the Giants on a three-game winning streak. DeVito was ultimately benched at halftime against the Eagles on Christmas in favor of Tyrod Taylor, who finished the season as the starting quarterback.

Nevertheless, the DeVito energy had the NFL world raving about an agent in unique suits, chicken cutlets, and the Cornicello. He finished his rookie season with 1,101 passing yards on 178 attempts (64% completion rate), with eight touchdowns and three interceptions. He indeed progressed through the season but stagnated near the end.

Why was DeVito benched?

Starting quarterback Daniel Jones tore his ACL in Week 9 against the Las Vegas Raiders. Jones pinched a nerve in his neck against the Dolphins in Week 5, which led to three Taylor starts against the Bills, Commanders, and Jets. Taylor suffered a rib injury against the Jets (Week 8) and landed on Injured Reserve before he was activated during the Giants’ Week 13 BYE.

DeVito won two games before the BYE week and had a primetime matchup against the Green Bay Packers ahead. Brian Daboll opted to keep DeVito as the starter over the veteran Taylor and didn’t bench DeVito until Week 16. I reiterate all of this to state the obvious — DeVito was primarily benched because Tyrod Taylor is a much better quarterback.

Daboll wanted to ride the hot hand, but the hand quickly cooled. When DeVito was benched, the Giants were down 20-3 at halftime against the Eagles. In Week 15, they were blown out 24-6 in New Orleans. However, DeVito did lead them to an improbable victory against the Green Bay Packers in Week 14. The Giants had a plus offensiveEPA) in just two of DeVito’s starts: Washington (+0.33) and Green Bay (+2.39).

DeVito’s game has several impressive aspects, especially considering his path to the NFL, but we should not misremember the negatives. DeVito was sacked 37 times on 237 dropbacks. He had the highest pressure-to-sack ratio of any quarterback in the NFL (that played at least 20% of their team’s snaps).

DeVito tied for the lowest average depth of target (aDot) in the NFL, and his yards per attempt were sixth-lowest. DeVito had the second-lowest *big-time-throw percentage (BTT%) in the NFL (2.2%), just ahead of Jimmy Garoppolo of the Raiders and just behind Daniel Jones (2.4%), who ranked third worst in the NFL. Ironically, Taylor was number one in BTT% (8.9%). The next closest was Matthew Stafford, at 6.3%.

*(BTT% PFF: a pass with excellent ball location and timing, generally thrown further down the field and/or into a tighter window)

DeVito had several instances of struggle against the Eagles and Saints:

The Giants ran 3×1 slants with free access to the boundary in the first quarter against Philadelphia on third-and-seven. The Eagles go in Cover-1 hole, and DeVito liked his matchup for Darren Waller (12). Although this is a catchable pass, there’s little margin for error with the hole defender’s location and the presence of Daniel Bellinger (82) so close to the inside. The defender also shades to Waller’s inside, making this throw more difficult.

At the top of the screen, Darius Slayton (86) did a fantastic job winning inside on his slant before DeVito decided to throw to Waller.

I hate screen-shot evaluation, but I included this—along with the other factors mentioned—to highlight Slayton’s win and DeVito’s predetermined decision to target Waller against James Bradberry (24). Is this a terrible mistake — No. But this was a staple play for the Giants in third-and-manageable, and they failed both times when other options were available:

Here’s a third-and-7 later in the half. DeVito hit his back foot, and Slayton was wide open for the first down. He unnecessarily bailed the pocket and took the check down. Then this happened on the subsequent drive:

The Giants found themselves in a third-and-5 on the subsequent drive. DeVito dealt with interior pressure, but the Giants had a far-hash corner route for Waller dialed up against a Cover-2 defense. The flat defender stayed inside the numbers, and Waller was about 12 yards ahead of Reed Blankenship (32). The ball had to be thrown with anticipation and touch to the open space, but DeVito tried to evade the pressure and found no solutions. He was benched after the next drive.

He also had a few slightly underthrown passes against the Saints, as we see below:

DeVito threw one touchdown pass after the BYE week. He only eclipsed 200 passing yards once, in Week 11 against the Washington Commanders. He finished the season with four big-time throws; two were against the Patriots.

Taylor finished the season with 616 passing yards in the final two games. He threw for 319 yards against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 17 and 297 yards in Week 18 against the Eagles, with a pair of touchdowns and interceptions spread between the two contests. That’s why DeVito was benched — Taylor was on the roster. Apparently, there is no such option in 2024.

Drew Lock replaced Taylor and remains as the second-string quarterback. If the Giants had ANY confidence that Lock would succeed, they’d likely give him a trial run in hopes of a possible cheap extension or to alleviate the heat underneath the rear ends of Daboll and Joe Schoen. Instead, DeVito is starting and auditioning for the backup role moving forward.

Difference between Jones and DeVito

Daniel Jones is bigger, stronger, faster, and has a slightly better arm than DeVito. Still, the Giants are 2-8, and Jones has significantly struggled. He should be relieved of the starting position, especially with next year’s injury guarantee hovering in the balance. Still, that doesn’t necessarily mean DeVito is a better option for winning, but something had to change. Jones is also just a year and three months older than DeVito.

The primary contradistinction between Jones and DeVito is their target tendencies. According to NFL Pro, DeVito averaged 7.2 yards per attempt, throwing outside the numbers in 2023, completing six of his eight touchdowns to these areas of the field while not throwing a single interception on 94 such attempts.

Daniel Jones has averaged just 4.9 yards per attempt on throws outside the numbers this season (third-fewest in the NFL), recording three touchdowns and three interceptions. Jones has also only completed four of his 24 deep pass attempts toward the boundaries this year, while DeVito was 6 of 11 for 192 yards and two touchdowns on such passes last season.

I broke down similar statistics from within the pocket last December during the Giants’ BYE week:

2023 isn’t the only year Jones did not throw outside the numbers from the pocket. In the 2022 season, Jones was 13-33 (39% completion rate) when throwing ten yards or more outside the numbers from the pocket in 455 attempts. In just three games (62 attempts), DeVito is 9 of 14 (64%).

In 2024, Jones was 20 of 47 (43%) from the pocket outside the numbers on throws over ten yards. Many of his completions were on deep comebacks or curl routes. He was 6 of 27 on throws over 20 yards. Expect the Giants to run more Sail, smash, post-wheel, snag, and variations of each that clear out with routes oriented outside the numbers:

Like the play above, DeVito wasn’t always perfect with this throw, especially from the far-hash. He missed on a second-and-five Sail-pivot against New Orleans and a third-and-8 far-hash condensed corner versus Green Bay in man coverage early in the game. Still, he followed that miss by responding late to all but seal victory against the Packers:

Daboll designed his offense to take more shots outside the numbers from the pocket for DeVito in 2023; one reason is his struggles throwing over the middle of the field. DeVito finished the year 7 of 17 (41%), targeting beyond 10 yards over the middle of the field. This year, Jones finished 26 of 49 53%), targeting beyond 10 yards inside the numbers. Jones is more comfortable throwing the dig route and working the inside the numbers. DeVito showed glimpses, like this third-and-13 strike against Washington:

That’s a tight window strike to Slayton. However, overall, DeVito needs to improve his vision and anticipation in the middle of the field.

Although Jones is more physically gifted than DeVito, it’s not clear that he consistently has better ball placement. According to Pro Football Reference, Daniel Jones’ 2023 on-target percentage was 78.4%, DeVito’s was 76.4%, and Taylor’s was 80.7%. However, Jones had a higher bad throw percentage, which was 13.7%, and DeVito’s was 12.5%.

DeVito had several throws on tape that may have maximized the play. The touchdown to Isaiah Hodgins against New England (below) and the third-and-5 man-coverage mesh touchdown to Saquon Barkley versus Washington were two short throws with elite ball placement that led to touchdowns; here is the Barkley touchdown:

Then there was the third-and-7 touchdown to Isaiah Hodgins in Week 14 vs. Green Bay:

These are high-leverage throws where optimizing the ball placement was crucial to success, and DeVito delivered. DeVito also had throws with more touch and pacing than Jones, who tends to throw a heavy — direct — ball.

Saquon Barkley does an excellent job exploiting his matchup for the touchdown. Still, it’s DeVito’s ball placement away from two defenders, timing, and touch that allowed Barkley to complete the play. This was the 2023 preseason against the Jets — add it to the sail collection:

The ball is layered over the top of two underneath defenders, and Lawrence Cager (83) can highpoint the football off this play-action pass with touch.

Jones is a more effective runner than DeVito, but the young quarterback can scoot a bit. He finished last season with 195 yards on the ground (5.4 yards per carry) with one touchdown and two fumbles. He forced six missed tackles and had 71 yards on the deck against Green Bay. Here are his two more impressive runs of the season, both against the Packers:

Like Jones, DeVito will operate the zone-read and RPO well; according to Pro Football Reference, he only threw the football 13 times on RPO passes last season, while Jones only threw it 23 times. Overall, DeVito is a step down from Jones as an overall athlete, although Jones hasn’t exactly looked the same as an athlete post-ACL surgery.

Against New England

Tommy DeVito lit up the Washington Commanders for 246 yards with three touchdowns and a 9.5 yards per attempt average, but his best throws still came against the New England Patriots.

DeVito displayed excellent patience on this first-and-10 strike on the deep Jalin Hyatt (13) crossing route:

The protection is excellent, and DeVito stands tall in the pocket to deliver this second-window throw. He placed the football well away from all three Patriots’ defenders who lost Hyatt’s route. DeVito ended up fumbling later in the drive. Still, this was a great catch by Hyatt, who secured this 22-yarder to open the following drive:

DeVito puts the football high and away from the coverage, and he holds that deep-half safety between the hash and the numbers with his eyes until he hits his back foot. He was decisive with the football, and his ball placement/timing was excellent. He was also decisive on this well-designed post-wheel with an orbit motion to the flat to create space for the wheel/sit:

Unfortunately, Sterling Shepard (3) can’t secure the slightly low throw but catchable pass. DeVito did a good job forcing the middle hook and flat defender to bite on the orbit, creating the extra space for the wheel/sit underneath the clearout.

The Giants’ only touchdown was on this third-and-10. New England matched the Giants’ 3×1 set with disrespectful leverage in the red zone, which is understandable against a UDFA rookie. The Patriots show blitz with eight guys on the line of scrimmage and three deep; the outer deep defender to the field is about 11 yards off Isaiah Hodgins (18) with an inside shade. DeVito recognized this leverage and attacked it.

From the No. 3 receiver spot, Slayton cleared out and occupied Jabrill Peppers (5), leaving Jonathan Jones (31) isolated against Hodgins, who sold the vertical well before taking a shallow angle toward the top of the numbers. DeVito exercised excellent ball placement, placing the football on the number one to the outside of Hodgins, allowing the receiver to spin out of Jones’ tackle attempt for the touchdown.

Despite these impressive throws, the Giants narrowly won with three defensive takeaways. New York won this game 10-7 after Patriots’ kicker Chad Ryland missed a 35-yard game-tying field goal in the final seconds.

Other traits

Here is a five-minute cut-up of DeVito’s quality throws:

Coach Daboll is correct in praising DeVito for his quick release. He doesn’t have the strongest arm in the world, but he generates solid velocity on his passes. Here’s a play from the 2023 preseason:

He can thread tight windows in the short to intermediate parts of the field. However, his arm talent in the deep portions of the field is still suspect. It’s uncertain if DeVito can drive the football into tighter windows like other starting quarterbacks in the league when the throw travels 20-plus yards; here are some plays that cause the question:

The interception against Dallas is a poor decision, but it also shows the lack of distance in DeVito’s arm, which is a slight limitation. Then there is this deep miss to Hyatt, which was a bit high as well:

This is a far-hash throw from the 33-yard line to the 28-yard line — it traveled a solid distance. I want to highlight this because I believe DeVito wanted to go back shoulder to Hyatt. The young signal-caller does an excellent job of discerning leverage and throwing back shoulder, which can appear to be under throws. This one was thrown a bit too high, but we also saw him target Wan’Dale Robinson on the back shoulder off this flea-flicker against Green Bay:

But even with that possible discernment, the throw is placed too far inside, and Robinson saves a near catastrophe with that impressive effort.

Another area of DeVito’s game that improved throughout the 2023 season was his ability to extend plays and find solutions. Here are several such plays:

He does well in finding solutions when he extends the play, and he improved with pocket manipulation through the year, albeit pressure in the pocket through twists or an unaccounted for blitz mitigates his effectiveness in both areas. He sometimes attempts to step up and through the pocket, but he is sacked too frequently.

Final thoughts

One thing is for sure — DeVito significantly developed during his rookie season. He struggled so severely in the Jets’ game that his final pass in regulation time was with 9:08 left in the third quarter. He didn’t throw another pass until overtime when the Giants failed to pick up a first down. Tyrod Taylor left the game midway through the second quarter. DeVito finished with 11 dropbacks, two completions for negative one yard with two sacks surrendered.

He then won three games for the Giants and made an abysmal season somewhat exciting while growing as a pocket manipulator and improving overall as a quarterback. He is still limited and has much to prove to earn a future roster spot on the Giants. It was time for the Giants to turn the page on Jones, but DeVito isn’t necessarily an upgrade, although he’ll have his opportunity to seize the day, at least for one week.

Will Giants’ fans go full GTL, as Italian delis across the tri-state area receive an uptick in chicken cutlet orders, or will the season continue to spiral into lost oblivion, resulting in the incineration of multiple seats? Time will tell.