Giants Receivers Offer Encouraging Reviews About New QB Tommy DeVito’s Growth

The respect for former New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones has not waned despite a tumultuous week that saw the former Duke star tumble from his throne as starter to fourth string to now free agent.

Teammates praised Jones for his leadership, class, work ethic, and support. However, with time standing still for no one, the team’s focus has shifted to the future, which, for the time being, is newly anointed starter Tommy DeVito.

The frisky and fun to watch DeVito is in his second season in the NFL, having signed with the Giants as a 25-year-old undrafted free agent out of Illinois last year who immediately charmed the masses when once named the starting quarterback with his Italian pride his life at home with his parents, and his penchant for his mother’s homemade chicken cutlets.

All that made for a good story, but it’s what DeVito does on the field that matters most. In three consecutive wins last year, DeVito, like Jones and Tyrod Taylor before him, became a human pinball behind a poor offensive line.

Yet he took care of the ball exceptionally well, recording eight passing touchdowns to just three interceptions while showing he had an NFL arm and was capable of throwing almost every kind of pass.

Now a year older and wiser, DeVito’s teammates, particularly his receivers, see the growth and improvement in his game from a year ago.

“He looked good, looked sharp,” receiver Darius Slayton said Wednesday after the first practice of the year with DeVito taking the first-team reps. “He threw it well–was accurate.”

Wan’Dale Robinson said DeVito, who looked confident as a rookie last year, looks even more confident in throwing and directing the offense and is throwing a much better ball.

“I would say compared to last year, (the passes) are much more catchable,” Robinson said. “He's learned a little bit more about touch and things like that, but he can put it in any window.

“If he wants to zip it in there, he can. If he wants to put some touch and let it go over some defenders, he can, as well. So you can see the improvements that he's made from last year, and it's just nice to have that.”

Receiver Jalin Hyatt, who, like DeVito, was a rookie last year and who was able to get a headstart on his teammates in getting a feel for how DeVito throws, had his first and thus far only 100-yard receiving game with DeVito throwing the ball (Week 12 of the 2023 season).

“Tommy's a very, very accurate quarterback,” Hyatt said. “I have games with him that we played together, so we have a little connection. I think just because we came in together, he has a lot of trust in me,” Hyatt said. “He likes to throw me the ball.”

Perhaps the one receiver with the most to gain from the switch to DeVito is rookie Malik Nabers, the only one of the wide receivers who was not here last year.

Coming out of LSU, Nabers was, among other things, known for his yards after catch (YAC) prowess, logging 1,252 YAC out of his 3,015 receiving yards (41.5%) in three seasons, the fifth most YAC among the receivers in the 2024 draft class.

But with the Giants, the YAC hasn’t exactly been flowing like champagne on New Year’s Eve for this year’s first-round pick. Currently, Nabers has just 204 YAC among his 607 receiving yards (33%), 21st out of 50 league-wide.

That could change with DeVito throwing the ball.

“His intentions with the ball are precise,” Nabers said when asked what he observed of DeVito as a passer in practice. “He's able to deliver the ball before you get out of your break. So (Head Coach Brian) Daboll told me, ‘Make sure you get your head around pretty fast because the ball's going to be coming.’

“So that's my main focus: just getting my head around. He's going to throw the ball before I get out of my break. So just having that as a quarterback, for anticipation for him to throw the ball before you get out your break–that's what we need.”

Assistant head coach/offensive coordiantor Mike Kafka agreed with the receivers' assessment of DeVito.

"I think you'll see a lot of growth," he said. "He's certainly another year in the system, another year in the offense. He's getting better at just the little things, those details. Talking about protections, demonstrating at the line of scrimmage with his hands, setting the defense, getting guys lined up, talking to those guys, communicating, not just on the field but then off the field, on the sideline in between series.

"All that growth has really been picking up, and you can see it happening in the meeting rooms as he's talking to guys this week. It's happening on the field, on the practice field, and that will just continue to get better."

Slayton agreed that every quarterback throws the ball differently, noting that DeVito is a little shorter than Jones and thus puts a different type of trajectory on it to ensure it finds its way to the intended receiver.

But he’s not worried that having had so few practices with DeVito will cause the passing game to come out of the gate slowly.

“At the end of the day, we're pros, and it's our job to get on the same page fast, and we will,” he said.

Giants Receivers Offer Encouraging Reviews About New QB Tommy DeVito’s Growth

Don't Forget to Check Out...

New York Giants On SI on Social Media