Who Is Tommy DeVito, The New Giants’ Starting QB?

Coming off a season in which they won a playoff game, the 2023 season has quickly gone south for the New York Giants. At the midway point in the season, the Giants are just 2-7 and have the worst point differential in the NFL. Needless to say, fans visiting betting sites have wagered money against the Giants after some truly ugly losses.

Who Is Tommy DeVito

To be fair, injuries at the quarterback position have hindered the Giants. With Daniel Jones sidelined for the rest of the season with an ACL tear and Tyrod Taylor also on IR, third-stringer Tommy DeVito is now the team’s starting quarterback. Aside from sharing a name with a character in The Godfather, what do we know about DeVito? Let’s take a closer look at the new Giants’ starting quarterback and his journey to the NFL.

Pre-NFL Days

As the Giants’ new quarterback, DeVito can be considered a hometown kid. He grew up in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, which is barely 10 miles from MetLife Stadium. DeVito attended New Jersey powerhouse Don Bosco Prep, leading the Ironmen to a state title his junior year. He then made the short trip to upstate New York to play college football at Syracuse.

At Syracuse, Devito was the backup when the Orange went 10-3 in 2018. As a redshirt freshman, DeVito played in seven games. He left his mark on the season when he led Syracuse to a comeback, double-overtime win over North Carolina after starter Eric Dungey struggled.

DeVito became the starter the following season but struggled to find consistency. While throwing 19 touchdown passes to just five interceptions, he was just 4-7 as a starter. DeVito’s junior season at Syracuse ended after just four games because of an injury.

He then lost the starting job early in his senior season. But with one year of eligibility left, DeVito transferred to Illinois for the 2022 season, throwing 15 touchdown passes to just four interceptions while leading the Fighting Illini to a memorable 8-5 season, the program’s first winning season since 2011.

Early Action

DeVito showed enough promise in college for the Giants to take a chance on him as an undrafted free agent. He was signed to the team’s practice squad before the season and became the backup after Daniel Jones got hurt in early October.

When Tyrod Taylor got hurt during a game against the Jets in late October, DeVito was forced into duty. However, he completed just two of his seven passes and took two sacks during his NFL debut. A week later, Jones returned to the starting lineup, but with Taylor injured, DeVito remained the backup.

When Jones suffered a knee injury early in the game, DeVito was once again pressed into action. While playing behind a leaky offensive line, DeVito was sacked six times and threw two interceptions in a 30-6 loss to the Raiders.

However, he did complete 15 of his 20 passes for 175 yards and his first career touchdown pass. With both Jones and Taylor on IR, DeVito was named the starter for the Giants’ Week 10 game against the Cowboys in what will be his first career NFL start.

Can He Remain The Starter?

Now that DeVito is getting his first chance to be a starter, the only question is whether he will remain the starter for the rest of the season. Jones is out for the rest of the season with an ACL tear while the Giants haven’t said if Taylor has a chance to return from his injury or not.

That will give DeVito a chance to prove with his performance that he can be the starter for the rest of 2023. However, DeVito could face some friendly competition from veteran Matt Barkley. The Giants signed Barkley to the practice squad after Week 9 and elevated him to the active roster as DeVito’s backup before Week 10.

With eight years in the league and seven career starts under his belt, Barkley has a little more experience than DeVito. He’s also familiar with head coach Brian Daboll after spending part of three seasons with the Bills while Daboll was Buffalo’s offensive coordinator.

As a veteran, Barkley might give the Giants a better chance of winning games. On the other hand, he hasn’t played in a regular-season game since 2020. He also has 11 career touchdown passes compared to 22 interceptions and just two wins in seven career starts.

Also, with the Giants in the midst of a lost season with little hope of reaching the playoffs, they have little to lose by giving a rookie like DeVito a chance to play. Even with Barkley available and Taylor potentially returning at some point, there is a good chance DeVito will have a chance to be the Giants’ starting quarterback for the rest of the 2023 season.