Daniel Jones Benched by Giants Amid $160M Contract; Tommy DeVito to Be QB1 Over Lock

The Daniel Jones era appears to be nearing its end in the Big Apple. The New York Giants are benching the starting quarterback for their home game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.

Tommy DeVito will be the new starter over Drew Lock, even though Lock replaced Jones late in New York’s 28-3 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in October. Lock will serve as the backup over Jones.

Through 10 weeks, Jones ranks 32nd among 36 qualified quarterbacks in passer rating and 29th in QBR, per Pro Football Reference.

Jones has completed 63.3 percent of his passes for 2,070 yards, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions through 10 starts. He’s added 265 rushing yards and two scores on the ground.

He has led a Giants team that sits last in the NFL with 15.6 points per game. New York is playing out the string of a lost season, and the low point occurred on Nov. 10 when the Giants fell 20-17 in overtime to the now 3-7 Carolina Panthers in Munich, Germany.

Jones had his worst game of the year, throwing for just 190 yards and tossing two interceptions, both of which occurred with the team driving deep in Carolina territory. He did rush for a touchdown and lead the team on an impressive 13-play, 96-yard touchdown drive, but Jones also made other key mistakes.

First, he airmailed a pass well over a wide-open Malik Nabers, which would have given the Giants a first down in the first quarter. Second, Jones didn’t get the ball off in time on a 3rd-and-1 flea flicker to a wide-open Wan’Dale Robinson and took a costly sack to kill a second-quarter drive.

In the days after the Panthers game, it was clear Jones’ time as starter could be ending following press conferences from head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen.

With that, he parlayed his 2022 performance into a four-year contract worth $160 million ($82 million guaranteed at signing, total guarantee of $105 million), per Over the Cap.

The 2023 season began with great expectations, but it ended up being a nightmare. Jones suffered a neck injury that cost him three games before a torn ACL ended his season. In six starts, Jones threw six interceptions and just two touchdowns.

He began the 2024 season as the Giants’ starter, but it was abundantly clear that Big Blue was looking to move on based on remarks and actions made by both Schoen and Daboll during the offseason Hard Knocks series. The former looked into moving up from No. 6 overall to No. 3 to potentially land UNC quarterback Drake Maye, while the latter expressed interest in Big Blue moving up for LSU signal-caller Jayden Daniels.

New York instead stayed at No. 6 and took Nabers. The Giants ended up signing Seattle Seahawks backup Drew Lock, and there were murmurs he could challenge Jones for the starting job. However, Jones began the year as QB1.

This year has been a challenge, though, and the Giants’ season once again was all but over before Thanksgiving. Now Jones is benched, and it’s clearer than ever that Big Blue is going to move on from him this offseason.

As far as 2025 and beyond goes, no guaranteed money remains on Jones’ deal following the 2024 season. However, he does have a $23 million injury guarantee for the 2025 season if he fails a physical in March. Benching him now lowers the chances that guarantee is triggered.

It’s not uncommon for NFL teams to bench players to avoid paying out that money. Examples include the 2023 Denver Broncos (Russell Wilson), the 2022 Las Vegas Raiders (Derek Carr) and the 2023 Raiders (Jimmy Garoppolo), per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

But Jones hasn’t played well. As The Athletic’s Dan Duggan noted, his performance on its own is a legitimate catalyst for a benching.