When the Giants return to action in Week 12, it will be with a different quarterback under center.
New York is reportedly making the decision to bench starting QB Daniel Jones. It comes after a 2-8 start to the season, with Jones struggling once again to lead the offense.
Tommy DeVito will take over under center, not Drew Lock, who has acted as Jones' backup for every game in 2024. Lock will remain as the backup, as Jones will be demoted to the third-string option.
In 10 games this season, Jones has completed 63.3% of his passes for 2,070 yards, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions. His passer rating of 79.4 passer rating ranks 31st in the NFL. The Giants sit in the cellar of the NFC East, and own the worst record in the conference. Only the Jaguars have a worse record in the league.
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Here is more on why the Giants benched Jones.
Why did the Giants bench Daniel Jones?
The Giants' decision to bench Jones is intriguing for a number of reasons, but it's not unexpected.
The 2019 first-round pick has not been the same quarterback that brought the Giants to the playoffs in 2022, regressing last year before an injury ended his season, and he hasn't returned to form in 2024.
New York currently owns the lowest-scoring offense in the league, with the team averaging a lowly 15.6 points per game. The Giants are 26th in passing yards per game (189.8) and 24th in total yards on offense per game (309.7). If the team wants to somehow salvage the season, a change at quarterback was necessary.
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The other interesting part of the Jones benching is the financial repercussions that would have come had the Giants kept him in as the starter. The quarterback has a $23 million injury guarantee for the 2025 season that comes into play if he suffers an injury and is unable to pass a physical in the offseason.
By not playing Jones, it saves New York an immense amount of money and will allow the team to look elsewhere for a starting quarterback in 2025. Jones has two more years left on his four-year deal he signed after 2022, however, it will be much easier to get out of his contract this offseason — as long as he is healthy. The club could clear roughly $19.4 million off of its salary cap by releasing Jones.
It's a trend that has become relevant in the NFL in recent years. There have been multiple circumstances where a team would bench a quarterback that has an injury guarantee in their contract. Just last season, the Broncos benched Russell Wilson in the final weeks of the year to avoid triggering his $37 million guarantee for this season. The Raiders did a similar thing with Jimmy Garoppolo in 2023 as well, benching him to avoid a potential injury that would guarantee an additional $11.25 million to his contract.
With the Giants making this move now, it almost certainly signals that the Jones era in the Big Apple will soon be over.
