New York Giants backup quarterback Drew Lock suffered an oblique injury during his side’s 14-3 preseason-opening victory over the Detroit Lions on Thursday at MetLife Stadium, potentially leaving head coach Brian Daboll with just two passers to work with come Saturday in Houston against the Texans.
“He’s sore,” Daboll said of Lock on Sunday. “[We’ll] see where he is. See if he can go this week. I don’t envision him practicing here the next few days, but like we always do, we’ll take it all the way up to the end and see where he’s at.”
Lock, a career backup, was signed this offseason to provide a competent No. 2 option behind Daniel Jones, who returned from a torn ACL suffered last season but does not have all too firm a grip on the starting job entering 2024. Tommy DeVito, who rose to fame in a relief role last season with the Giants, is taking on the No. 3 role.
With Lock questionable for Saturday, though, Daboll said that the Giants will not be bringing in another quarterback.
“We’ll see where Drew is at. If he’s good to go, he’s good to go,” he said. “Obviously, we talked about it, but we’ll see where he’s at. He feels a little bit better than he did that night and the next morning. He’ll do some running on the side, then he won’t practice. He won’t practice today. I don’t think he’ll practice tomorrow, probably not the next day, but we’ll go all the way to the end.”
Jones will make his preseason debut with the depth chart shortened, though DeVito will get the lion’s share of the snaps and if needed, tight end Tyree Jackson will prove as an emergency quarterback considering he played the position during his college days at Buffalo.
“I have an idea right now, but I want to go through these three practices (including full pads workouts tomorrow and Tuesday),” Daboll said of Jones’ expected playing time against the Texans. “We’ll talk about it as a coaching staff as the week goes on and end up talking with the players. I do envision Daniel playing if everything is… trainers, practices, all those type of things. The plan is to play him.”
With Lock sidelined, the logical opportunity for DeVito to make a case to rise up to the No. 2 QB on the New York depth chart exists, but Daboll is not quite at that point, yet.
“I’d say, with Tommy and Drew, all we’re going to ask them to do is go out there and play as good as they can play and produce,” Daboll said. “And all those decisions will be made at the end of camp based on who we think gives us the best chance at each position. Whether it’s the backup quarterback, backup three-technique, starting receiver. Those are all yet to be determined, besides [defensive lineman] Dexter [Lawrence], A.T. [offensive Andrew Thomas] and a few of those other guys — [edge rusher Brian] Burns and [Kayvon] Thibodeau, [inside linebacker] Bobby (Okereke).”
