Daniel Jones‘ benching will ensure he does not suffer an injury late in the season. The Giants are moving forward with Tommy DeVito under center, but they are also adding further depth at the quarterback spot. 
New York is adding Tim Boyle on a practice squad deal, Art Stapleton of NJ.com reports. Boyle was among the players who worked out for the team on Tuesday, and he will now give the Giants an insurance option at the position. Drew Lock will serve as DeVito’s backup, an indication that not triggering Jones’ 2025 injury guarantee was a central factor in the decision to bench the former No. 6 pick.
This move is another sign Jones will not see the field again in 2024 even if DeVito and/or Lock suffer injuries. Boyle has made 22 appearances and five starts during his NFL tenure, one which has spanned five teams. His most recent action came earlier this year with the Dolphins while Tua Tagovailoa was injured, but his last two starts came in 2023 with the Jets. The 30-year-old sports a record of 0-5 and has thrown just four touchdown passes compared to 12 interceptions.
The Giants’ taxi squad moves also include a deal for Tyre Phillips. The fifth-year offensive lineman is re-joining the team, per Fox Sports’ Jordan Schultz. Phillips played for New York in 2022 and ’23, but his campaign came to an abrupt end last year due to a torn quad. Now that he is healthy, the 27-year-old has managed to land another Giants pact for the second half of the season. Like the Boyle addition, the Philips signing has since been announced by the team.
The offensive tackle spot has been an issue for New York, with Andrew Thomas suffering a season-ending foot injury last month. On the right side, a number of options have received a look, including 2022 first-rounder Evan Neal. Phillips has some experience on the blindside, but he has primarily played at right tackle in his career; if he finds himself on the active roster, he could represent a depth contributor at RT.
Dan Duggan of The Athletic reports linebacker Curtis Bolton is being released from the Giants’ practice squad in a corresponding move. He has made 29 appearances in the NFL, including one this season for New York during which he handled a notable special teams workload. Bolton’s third phase abilities will likely be targeted by his next team.
Willing to bet that the signing of Tim Boyle keeps Danny Jones off even the practice squad. According to OTC, right now the Giants 2025 effective cap* space is $23 Million, the same as a Danny Jones injury pay out.
*Effective Cap Space: the cap space a team will have after signing at least 51 players and its projected rookie class to its roster.
It’s virtually impossible to just stash Daniel Jones on the practice squad. They would have to waive him first, which would move next year’s salary cap hit to this year, & I just read earlier that they’ll take an $11.5 million dead cap hit waiving him next year. I doubt he’d agree to become a practice squad QB after making $40 million, he’d go elsewhere & be a backup first, or maybe just retire like Titans QB Jake Locker, who didn’t want to relocate & take less money to be a backup.
The point being is that the organization will not even allow Daniel Jones to pretend to be Baker, Cooper, Cousins, Hurts, or anyone else they will play. His injury payout is the equivalent to the team entire spending cap space for next year.
Also, FYI the $11,105,000 dead cap hit would be for 2026. His dead cap hit next year is $22,210,000, and his injury payout is $23,000,000 leveraged against his 2025 salary.
Jones will be married to the clipboard the rest of the season even if he’s activated as QB3, and will get into a game as much as you or I could. No one’s going to trade for him even for a late rounder with that salary, he’ll just be waiting to be cut.
What will it say about how bad Jones is if DeVito comes in and throws for 300 yards (which Jones has not done this season, did once last season and twice two seasons ago) and/or 3 touchdowns in a game (which Jones hasn’t done since his ROOKIE YEAR)? Jones’ #’s aren’t a whole lot better than Danny Kanell (4th rounder) or Kent Graham (8th rounder) who played in the 90s!
Makes sense. If Tommy DeVito doesn’t play badly enough for tanking purposes, they can bring in Boyle.
It’s pretty obvious since they moved Danny DeVito ahead of Drew Lock. The latter may have won a game or two…
No one is tanking on a team. If they bring in Boyle, he’s a guy who’s not afraid to chuck the rock deep when the team is down points. Unfortunately his accuracy can be iffy
Then why would you demote Lock and go with Devito? They’re obviously tanking the season.
Drew Lock wasn’t all that great with Seattle. Tommy DeVito gave the Giants a spark when he started games late last season. DeVito’s also a Jersey guy who went to high school not far from MetLife Stadium.
I agree, Lock and the QB Miles Garrett smacked with his helmet (I can’t remember his name) are two examples of guys floating around different locker rooms and never commanding a ton of respect from teammates.
Interesting to see where all the people who raised a ruckus over Rus last year for the same thing are.
Daniel Jones is 2-8. Wilson was 7-8, and the Broncos were still (barely) in playoffs contention. It’s much easier to argue the former deserves to be benched compared to the latter
Wilson was not 7-8, the defense was 7-8. They won the broncos games, and had the most absurd turnover difference in nfl history. Anyone who actually watched broncos games the last two seasons was literally like watching paint dry with rus behind center. It was an easy decision to bench Wilson after how anemic the offense was and how he was going to be let go regardless. It’s much easier to see what stidham, who had a decent stretch in Vegas, rather than devito who we already know it terrible.
I don’t see how turning to Jarrett Stidham is ever an “easy” decision. At best, replacing Wilson with him is a wash
Everybody is so quick to bury Daniel Jones and it reminds me of how the Browns treated Baker Mayfield after he actually got the Browns into the playoffs and Mayfield is doing well in Tampa Bay…not great but much better than people thought he would be. Same thing will happen to Jones…he isn’t as bad as some people make him out to be…he will find a new home and probably thrive, Las Vegas comes to mind. I really don’t think he is that bad but he has a head coach that should have been shown the door last year…Daboll is terrible. Anytime a coach lays the blame on his players is an admission of his own failures but rather than “Coach ’em up” to succeed he just keeps saying the players fail without saying it out loud. How many of those guys really want to play for him ?
Haven’t heard one player on that team say he is awesome
You’re right but Daniel Jones is fool’s gold. The kind of QB to keep a team at the edge of playoff contention but unable to reach beyond mediocrity. The Mayfield analogy is good, but Baker has a certain fighting spirit and a certain way of making the men around him better which has brought championships and might do so again.
Say what you will about Baker, guys got a heart that I don’t think Jones comes close to matching.
Best case is Jones is more like Geno Smith, keeps his head down and works hard during his next contract and is ready for the next big opportunity. Coaches in the NFL, especially QB coaches, love to fix damaged goods.
I think the fact that Mayfield elevated the Browns to the playoffs and was a .500 QB there shows that he’s much better than Jones. The Browns went back to being the Browns after he left. If Jones went to the Browns he’d be another name on the jersey of shame after he’s hung with a few more L’s. The defense of Jones kind of reminds me of Heath Shuler back in the day when some said it was Washington’s system that was the problem and not Shuler. It was Shuler.
Since we haven’t seen Daboll have “his guy” run his offense yet I am still on the fence, although not having an active healthy kicker costing him a game pushed me to the bad side some.
Anyone remember Brandon Tierney’s Timmy Boyle can sling it comment
Tierney is a mouth-breather from talk radio who thought Boyle was the second coming of Rex Grossman.