Daniel Jones Injury: 5 Things to Know About Giants Backup QB Tommy DeVito

New York Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito is set to make his first NFL start, against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.

Daniel Jones, the team's starting signal-caller, tore the ACL in his right knee in last weekend's game against the Las Vegas Raiders. And Tyrod Taylor, Jones' backup, is already on injured reserve with a rib injury. So, DeVito is set to become the first undrafted rookie to start at QB in a non-strike game for the Giants in the common draft era.

Even he is still trying to grasp that.

"I think it's a shock to everybody," DeVito said of the injuries. "Not to have one quarterback but two quarterbacks go down, I mean it's tough. The quarterback position runs the team, and to have one and two go down like that, you would've never guessed that to happen. But again, it's a physical game, injuries happen, it's part of it, it's the worst part about the game, but it's the next-man-up mentality and like I said before, I'm going to rely on everyone else around me."

Other than the fact that DeVito shares a name with Joe Pesci's character in GoodFellas, and that his looks have been compared to those of a certain Sopranos character, NFL fans don't seem to know much about New York's former practice squad QB.

Ahead of his first start, here are five things to know about DeVito.

Will Set NFL Record on Sunday

When DeVito takes his first snap of the day on Sunday, he will become the 10th rookie QB to start a game this season, an NFL record.

DeVito gets the start under center over veteran Matt Barkley, who joined the Giants last week. Jacob Eason also recently signed to New York's practice squad in light of Jones' injury. But DeVito being in the building since the spring gave him the advantage in the QB room ahead of Sunday's game.

"He's been here for a long time," Giants head coach Brian Daboll said of DeVito when asked why he got the start. "He has picked up our stuff so we're going to go with DeVito here. [Barkley] has only been here for a week. There's obviously nuances and things that he's learning, but he'll be ready to go to back him up."

Grew Up in New Jersey

The Giants are starting a hometown favorite under center this week.

DeVito was born in Livingston, New Jersey, only about 20 miles from MetLife Stadium— home to the Giants (and New York Jets). The QB's high school games were played at nearby Don Bosco Preparatory School. DeVito led his team to a New Jersey state title as a junior and was once a finalist in Nike's Elite 11 competition. 247Sports rated DeVito as a four-star recruit and the nation's No. 8 pro-style QB in his class.

Safe to say, DeVito is receiving plenty of texts from friends, many of them Giants fans in New Jersey, now that he is the starting QB for the G-Men.

"The family, the friends, everybody that's been reaching out, I think that's been kind of like the shock of it," DeVito said this week. "But for me, it's football, right? It's another day. It's a game I've been playing since I was real young. But it will be my first start in the NFL, so I know there's going to be some emotion there."

Played College Football at 2 Schools

DeVito opted to stay close to home for the start of his college football career.

The signal-caller committed to Syracuse out of high school. After a redshirt season in 2017, DeVito saw his first collegiate snaps in 2018. He won the full-time job the next season as a redshirt sophomore and threw a career-high 19 touchdowns. The New Jersey native missed most of the 2020 season with a left leg injury, then entered the transfer portal midway through the campaign.

His next stop was at Illinois, where he played his final season of college football, in 2022. DeVito led the Fighting Illini to eight wins and tallied a career-best 2,650 passing yards. In all, DeVito finished his collegiate career with 6,516 passing yards and 43 passing touchdowns.

DeVito's NFL Contract

The rookie signed a three-year, $2.705 million contract with the Giants, according to Spotrac. DeVito's deal includes a $10,000 signing bonus, $20,000 guaranteed and an average annual salary of just over $900,000.

Just for comparison's sake, the QB DeVito is replacing—Jones—is tied for 10th among all NFL QBs in terms of average annual contract value. Jones just signed a four-year, $160 million contract extension earlier this year.

DeVito's NFL Stats

DeVito's first NFL action came in Week 8, when Taylor left a game against the Jets early and Jones was still healing from a neck injury. It wasn't exactly a performance to remember.

The rookie completed only two of his seven passes for -1 yard, though he did score a six-yard rushing touchdown in a 13-10 Giants loss. Last week against the Raiders, DeVito went 15 of 20 passing for 175 yards, a touchdown and two picks as the Giants lost, 30-6. Sunday's game will mark the first time in DeVito's professional career that he will go into a game knowing he's going to play. And Jones is doing what he can to help with preparation.

"I'm still going to be as involved as I can be with helping guys prepare to play and helping Tommy this week prepare to play and being in meetings and whatever I can do to help them out, I'm going to do that," Jones told reporters this week. "Just trying to be there for this team and make sure we finish strong."

DeVito's first start comes against a daunting opponent.

The Cowboys (5-3) already defeated the Giants (2-7), 40-0, in the season-opener. Dallas scored touchdowns on defense and special teams in that drubbing, while also recording seven sacks and picking off two passes. The G-Men will try to improve off of that outing at 4:25 p.m. ET Sunday. The game will air on FOX from AT&T Stadium.

The Giants enter the game as 17-point underdogs, per Caesars Sportsbook.

"No nerves, just excitement," DeVito said. "I have a life rule. It's Rule No. 1: Don't panic. That is the thing I've always leaned on. It's a game. It's football. Yeah, there is a lot on the line, but at the end of the day, you play this game because you love it. And I do love this game. I'm just going to go out there and enjoy myself."