When Giants head coach Brian Daboll benched quarterback Daniel Jones, defensive captain Dexter Lawrence said he didn’t like the decision, although he did say he would respect his coach’s call. Daboll says that’s all he can ask for from Lawrence.
“I got a lot of respect for Dex,” Daboll said. “Dex has been a teammate of Daniel’s for a while. There’s a pretty good relationship with there. Look, everybody’s not going to agree with the decision, and I understand that. We make the decision we feel is best and then we move forward and get ready to go.”
Daboll said Lawrence publicly disagreeing with the decision to move to Tommy DeVito as the Giants’ starting quarterback won’t affect their relationship.
“Dex and I have a good relationship, and I respect Dex a great deal,” Daboll said. “We were just talking a little while ago, not about that. But again, everybody’s going to have certain opinions. I got a lot of respect for all our players. I think we’re focused, we’ll be focused, and do what we need to do to play our best against Tampa.”
The reality of the situation is that the Giants benched Jones mostly because they don’t want to risk having to pay his injury guarantee for the 2025 season. And they bypassed Drew Lock and moved on to DeVito in large part because DeVito is a local New Jersey guy who’s popular with the fan base, and because the Giants still have the contractual rights to DeVito in 2025, while Lock will be an unrestricted free agent.
Lawrence and his teammates know that, and as competitors who want to win, it’s natural that they’re not happy with it. But Daboll is OK with his players not being happy with his decision, as long as they respect it.
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