Giants’ Offseason QB Pitch Highlighted Previous Backup Success

HBO’s Hard Knocks: Offseason continues to deliver nuggets of information and context that otherwise would not have been made available to the public. In the series’ most recent episode, we became privy to some details on the development of the Giants’ backup quarterback situation this offseason.

One area that the series shed light on was the departure of backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor. The show displayed that both general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll showed confidence that Taylor would re-sign with the team, while beat reporters like Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post and Dan Dugger of The Athletic were both under the impression that Taylor had no interest in staying with New York.

The team had turned to Taylor to start for an injured Daniel Jones in Week 6 of the 2023 season but saw Taylor exit with a rib injury three weeks later. Taylor would eventually return around Week 14, but the Giants made the decision to stick with undrafted rookie quarterback Tommy DeVito, who had gone 3-1 in four starts filling in for Jones and Taylor. Two weeks later, DeVito was benched in a second straight losing effort as Taylor retook the reins for the remainder of the season.

Dunleavy claimed that Taylor was “very disheartened by how last season played out after his injury,” leading to the assumption that the veteran was not interested in returning. Duggan echoed this sentiment, saying that he “got the sense that (Taylor) was ready to move on after how last season unfolded.” Taylor eventually signed with the Jets, opting to serve as the primary backup for another starter who spent most of last season on injured reserve.

Following the loss of Taylor, the team explored a number of options to replace him, clearly seeing a need for quality with Jones’ injury history. The series showed that veteran names like Sam Darnold and Joe Flacco were floated around the building before the team ultimately landed on Drew Lock as their target.

A couple of months ago, we touched on a rumor that Jones’ injury history was part of the pitch that lured Lock to New York, with the team pointing at the success that former backups like Taylor and Mitch Trubisky have had finding contracts following their time with the Giants. That was seemingly confirmed in this week’s episode, showing that, whereas other teams had tried to sell Lock a potentially unrealistic chance to start, New York touted their history of getting backup passers back on their feet.

Regardless of how they got there, both parties appear to be in a good place now. Lock stands a better chance at seeing the field in New York (based on Jones’ injury history), and the Giants now roster one of the league’s most promising young backups as their QB2.