'Every play matters': Inside Jersey QB Tommy DeVito's quest to stick with NY Giants

DETROIT - Tommy DeVito embraces the reality of his football life every day he gets to wear a uniform, let alone one from the New York Giants.

When you grow up in the shadow of the Meadowlands, when a 20-minute drive to work from his family's Cedar Grove home is to the office across the MetLife Stadium parking lot, there is plenty to appreciate about the opportunity.

As an undrafted rookie and currently the third quarterback on the roster behind Daniel Jones and Tyrod Taylor, the 24-year-old DeVito also knows his place - and it's not easy to block all that pressure out and excel at what he's been doing since he was 8 years old when his future employment is essentially on the line with every snap.

"Every play matters, especially now for me and a lot of guys," DeVito told NorthJersey.com "This is a business and I have to make the most of every rep I get. If I do make a bad throw, then I have to move on from it. Be even keel minded, go on to the next one and make that one my best rep. I mean, it's hard, because at any time, you can get that call and it's over."

DeVito is well aware of what's at stake, and not just when the Giants play their preseason opener Friday night against the Detroit Lions. How he's fared going all the way back to rookie minicamp in May and his development since led team brass to stick with the kid from Jersey who spent his college career at Syracuse and Illinois.

At some point Friday night inside Ford Field, DeVito is expected to enter the game for the first time as a professional. He'll look around the huddle, likely with fellow undrafted rookie Bryce Ford-Wheaton and David Sills V as his top targets, call out the play and kick off another significant part of his NFL audition.

DeVito's parents, his brother and several friends are expected to be in the stands for his pro debut.

"[DeVito] was a gunslinger in high school, he's still a gunslinger," Giants tight end Tommy Sweeney told NorthJersey.com, sharing what it was like to play on the same high school team at Don Bosco in Ramsey, N.J. "And here he is now."

Sweeney was a senior when DeVito was a freshman. Now they're both fighting for their football lives with the hometown team, together again.

"I mean, it's pretty crazy when you think about it," added Sweeney, a Ramsey native and now an NFL veteran having spent the previous four seasons in Buffalo. "We were in the same locker room in high school and now in the NFL. You know, Bosco, there's been some successful guys, so it's not completely foreign, but just the odds of getting here, let alone a high school teammate making it to the NFL and being on the same team, it's pretty amazing."

DeVito led Don Bosco to a Non-Public, Group 4 title as a junior and the offense was tailored around his skill set, giving him more freedom at the line of scrimmage. He threw for 3,238 yards and 33 touchdowns with 11 interceptions over two seasons.

After 259 picks through seven rounds without hearing his name called, DeVito agreed to a deal with the Giants that includes a $10,000 signing bonus and $10,000 base salary guarantee as an undrafted free agent. That's obviously in a different stratosphere than the $160 million the Giants committed to Jones back in March, even a far cry from the $5.450 million Taylor is set to earn as the backup this season.

The switch to more of a pro-style system at Illinois benefitted DeVito, who completed nearly 70 percent of his passes for 15 touchdowns and just four interceptions.

"He’s improved since he’s been here. He’s still a young guy who doesn’t get a ton of reps playing that position, which is always a hard thing," Giants coach Brian Daboll said of DeVito. "But he’s done a good job improving every day."

DeVito has certainly endured the ups and downs of being a pro. There have been plays where he missed a read, overthrew a receiver or skipped a pass at another's feet. But as much as that was prevalent early on, DeVito seems to have settled in, and there have been as many good plays than bad ones, maybe even more.

"For me, in high school and college, I consider myself a perfectionist, so you spend every practice, every game wanting to make every throw and believing you will," DeVito said. "But now, if I make a bad throw or a bad read, that whole day, all the way up until I put my head on the pillow that night, it's gonna be on my mind. When I make a mistake, I have to be sure that I'm not going to make that mistake again. Definitely focus on the bad plays. You try to embrace the good plays, and you do, but the bad ones hang with you longer."

DeVito is a smart passer who navigates the pocket well. He moves well and plays smaller and quicker out on the edge than his 6-foot-2, 210-pound frame would suggest. That's going to be a part of his skill set on display if and when DeVito gets his first taste of action as a pro.

The challenge will be finding ways to make plays on the run and having the patience to let routes develop behind an offensive line comprised of reserve players scrambling to make the team just as he is.

The Giants have had Bryce Perkins (rookie camp) and Jacob Eason (June minicamp) in as tryouts during spring workouts, but both left without a deal, as DeVito essentially warded off the competition to date.

The best chance for DeVito to stick with the Giants is on the practice squad as a developmental quarterback behind Jones and Taylor, and with the opportunity to not only learn from them, but from Daboll, offensive coordinator Mike Kafka and quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney as he progresses through his rookie season.

"This is a once in a lifetime thing, and not a lot of people get to have this job," DeVito said. "You make a bad play, you have to erase it and push forward. Just take it one day at a time, one play at a time. Be in the moment and do what you do best. That's the only way you can earn the right to stay."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Tommy DeVito: NJ QB on quest to stick with hometown NY Giants