As Daniel Jones jogs back to the sideline after throwing an interception early in the 2024 season, the restless MetLife Stadium crowd is making Tommy DeVito’s trademark Italian hand gesture and calling for a quarterback change.
Yes, it’s easy to envision a future scenario where the undrafted rookie DeVito’s sudden rise is bad for Jones’ future with the Giants.
But is there a flip side of the coin?
“I know everybody wants to laugh, and embrace the Italian-ness and all the things that go along with it — and I’m all about having fun — but I think Tommy DeVito is the best thing that ever happened to Daniel Jones,” ESPN NFL analyst Robert Griffin III told The Post, “because now he has put the Giants in a situation where they are not really going to have the pick of the litter at the top of the draft because of the three-game winning streak.”
In the matter of a month, DeVito has taken the Giants (5-8) from competing for the No. 1 pick in the draft — and the possibility of replacing Jones with Caleb Williams or Drake Maye — to competing for an NFC playoff spot entering Sunday’s high-stakes visit to the Saints.
DeVito elevated from a fun local story to a winning catalyst when he avoided taking a sack, posted a quarterback rating over 100 for the third straight game and led a fourth-quarter comeback against the Packers on “Monday Night Football.”
“He’s seizing his opportunity,” Griffin said. “What does it mean past this year? I have no idea. But it means DeVito is going to be a Giant next year, at a minimum.
“The Giants have to make a decision, in my opinion, of how to approach the offseason. If they truly believe in Daniel Jones, maybe DeVito has given them a get-out-of-jail-free card because the team needs to be built up, for sure. No quarterback that they draft in the first round is going to instantly come in and make this team a Super Bowl contender. They have a lot of work to do.”
Jones quietly passed through the locker room Friday wearing a knee brace, but he mostly is out of sight, out of mind for fans as he rehabs a torn ACL.
Not for DeVito.
“I’m always picking his brain, just having a conversation,” DeVito said. “He’s probably always the first text on my phone right after the game ends.”
Griffin tore the ACL, LCL and meniscus in his knee at the end of his 2012 Offensive Rookie of the Year season.
It derailed his career, so his advice for Jones is simple: Don’t rush back to meet a goal of starting the season if only 90 percent healthy.
“The bottom line is they are not going to judge you with an asterisk, like ‘Daniel Jones came back to play, but it was less than a year since he tore his ACL so you have to give him a break,’” Griffin said. “When he’s on the field, they are going to judge him no matter what product. He needs to make sure that when he comes back, he is at his best.”
Jones’ contract is worth $160 million over four years. DeVito is earning $750,000.
“Everyone would agree that an undrafted guy, although he has less security on the team, he also has less pressure when he goes out there to play,” Griffin said. “He’s played well enough, but the expectation wasn’t there. There’s nuance.”
It will never be an apples-to-apples comparison, even without DeVito Mania.
“Daniel got paid to be the franchise QB,” Griffin said. “If DeVito keeps playing like he is, it will give Jones the proper time to heal while also not forcing the organization to draft a QB high. Fans love DeVito, but they love winning more. All Jones has to do is come back and win. Then D.J. can play all the funky music he wants and DeVito fans will be dancing, too.”
Griffin has watched the tape on all of DeVito’s games and “it’s not a dumbed-down version of the offense.” Scaled-back from Jones’ version? Certainly.
But it’s an offense revised to fit DeVito’s strengths.
In that way, DeVito also might be the best thing to happen to head coach Brian Daboll.
“DeVito is playing at a super-high level … and proving to the entire NFL that Daboll [lifted] Daniel Jones, not the other way around,” Griffin said. “He is establishing himself as that guru we thought he was.
“Should they have paid Daniel Jones? It’s over. He got paid. But Daboll is showing you his coaching prowess with how he is managing DeVito — allowing him to be who he is, stressing to protect the football, but also schematically putting him in situations he can be successful.”