This time around, Tommy DeVito knew how it works.
More importantly, he knew exactly what he was hoping to avoid on cut-down day.
“I remember last year how it went down,” DeVito said after practice on Wednesday. “I woke up in the morning to come in, it was an off day, we didn’t have to be in the facility but I was coming in anyways. They called me on the way over and they were like, ‘Hey, where you at?’ I was like, ‘I’m on my way into the facility’ and they were like, ‘Alright, pop in, I’ll get you when I see you.’ I was like, ‘Aw s–t, this must be how it goes down.’
Aug. 28, 2024. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
“This year was like alright, we’ll see. I wake up in the morning, go into the facility and I walked in, didn’t get grabbed and that was it.”
Last year, DeVito receiving a phone call and being “grabbed” at the Giants facility meant he was getting cut from the team, though he then signed to the practice squad. But neither happened on Tuesday, as the Giants trimmed down to their 53-player roster.
No phone call, no getting “grabbed,” no being cut. DeVito made the team.
And his spot should be secure.
He’s not just on the roster until Drew Lock, who signed a one-year, $5 million deal to be Daniel Jones’ primary backup, is fully healthy from his oblique injury.
General manager Joe Schoen said Wednesday that he expects to keep three quarterbacks on the roster the entire season.
Additionally, the NFL Players Association on Monday vetoed a rule that was passed by owners to allow the emergency quarterback (who dresses and can enter the game if the other two quarterbacks get hurt, but doesn’t have to be on the game day roster) to remain on the practice squad.
Instead, the emergency quarterback will have to be on the 53-player active roster, as was required last year.
“[Head coach Brian Daboll] and I were at the owners meetings in March and they said a stat, backup quarterbacks took almost 2,500 more snaps last year than in the past,” Schoen said. “You’ve already seen a couple — Buffalo with their backup [Mitchell Trubisky], or up in Minnesota [J.J. McCarthy], there’s already been some injuries with quarterbacks as is. The way things went last year, we like where Tommy is.”
This preseason, DeVito completed 32 of 61 passes (52.5 percent) for 270 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions.
DeVito, now 26, became a brief fan and locker room favorite last year, playing in nine games, starting six and leading the team to three straight wins at one point.
A Cedar Grove, N.J. native, he isn’t going anywhere. At least for a little while.
“Tried to go out there and put my best foot forward, do everything I can do and let them just make the decision,” DeVito said. “I knew I left everything out there.”
