Of course he wants to play.
Drew Lock, like every other NFL quarterback, believes he should be a starter in the league.
But Lock, who signed a one-year deal in the offseason as the newest backup to Giants starter Daniel Jones, knows the ideal scenario for 2024.
“If Daniel plays well, it’s great for everybody here, including me,” Lock told The Post after practice on Monday. “It means we’re a winning football team, so if we win, he plays his hardest, and then when it gets to the last couple weeks and he doesn’t need to play, I’ll play me a little bit and we’ll make the playoffs.”
“That’s the ideal position for a backup. I don’t want to play unless the team is in the playoffs.”
That scenario seems about as likely as Lawrence Taylor coming out of retirement to challenge Kayvon Thibodeau in a sack contest, given Jones’ checkered injury history and the Giants’ disaster at the quarterback position in 2023.
The Giants had a lot of issues last season, but the biggest reason for their 6-11 final result was the team’s poor quarterback performance.
Jones missed three games in Week 5 after suffering a neck injury, his second in three seasons, and then failed to complete a game after returning from the neck injury, as he suffered a torn ACL in Week 9 at Las Vegas, ending his season.
Backup Tyrod Taylor was a rising star in Jones’ place while he was out with a neck injury, but he was sidelined with a concussion in Week 8 against the Jets.
Jones suffered a knee injury against the Raiders, forcing the Giants to turn to rookie free agent Tommy DeVito.
The North Jersey native posted a solid 3-3 record as a starter, but never seemed to earn manager Brian Daboll’s full trust in him as a truly reliable second baseman.
When Taylor signed a two-year contract with the Jets early in free agency, Lock came in. Lock began his career as a second-round draft pick in Denver and spent three seasons there before being traded to Seattle, where he’s spent the past two seasons.
The Giants are hoping Lock can provide a better safety net than he did last season in case Jones gets injured again.
Lock had other options in free agency but stuck with the Giants because he thought the spring overtime would be his best opportunity to work with the starters after Jones wasn’t allowed to practice until training camp. He, too, knows the obvious: Jones’ injury history.
Asked to discuss his career, which has seen him make 23 starts and go 9-14, Lock cited the many “ups and downs” he’s had over five shaky NFL seasons and used the word “resilience.”
Lock was speaking about the Broncos firing his first offensive coordinator, Rich Scangarello, and replacing him with Pat Shurmur, who ironically was Jones’ head coach during his rookie season.
And he noted that the Broncos acquired Teddy Bridgewater to replace him as the starter in 2020. Then there was the trade to Seattle, where he “got to start all over again and serve as the backup there.”
Then he said he waited “for a chance to play and then waited a whole year (2022) without playing once,” because that year was Geno Smith’s career resurgence.
“He’s had some things early in his career that he’s had to learn from and grow from,” Daboll said Monday. “He’s got some good experience. He did a good job in Seattle as the backup to Geno. He’s mature, he’s got good size, he’s got good athletic ability. We thought he was a good fit for us.”
Lock spoke of Jones with respect on Monday, saying he would never have guessed from watching him in the weight room that he was recovering from a torn ACL and calling his work ethic “amazing.”
“The guy who comes in first and leaves last,” he continued, “is very smart. I listen to his thoughts on everything and watch the replays of everything he does. He’s someone you want to be like. This city saw that in him when we made the playoffs. [two seasons ago]He negotiated with a new head coach, a new OC, and finally turned to Daves and made the playoffs.”
The Giants can only hope that Lock’s quarterback scenario plays out in 2024.
