Davis Webb makes bid to be Giants' No. 2 quarterback after Tyrod Taylor leaves preseason finale early

Backup quarterbacks aren’t important. Until they are.

The Giants learned that lesson last season when Daniel Jones missed the final six games with a neck injury and they churned through a series of options, including the unimpressive Mike Glennon and the absurdly incompetent Jake Fromm. The offense was so dysfunctional with those players running it that quarterback sneaks from deep in their own territory became a brainstormed idea — and a concept put into actual practice — just to avoid turnovers and losses of yardage.

It’s why this year’s Giants, under new management, made a point of bolstering their depth behind Jones in the offseason.

But as they finished up their preseason with a 31-27 loss to the Jets at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, the significance of that spot — and potentially spots — came back into focus.

Jones spent the game safely on the sideline, wearing a white baseball cap and an earpiece that either allowed him to follow along with the play-calling or catch up on some podcasts. Presumed backup Tyrod Taylor, however, did not make it into the second quarter before being carted to the locker room.

That left third-stringer Davis Webb to enter slightly earlier than planned — he was supposed to take the field for the second quarter — and finish the game for the Giants.

It also left the Giants with a conundrum as they head toward Tuesday’s 53-man roster cutdown: Can they afford to keep only two quarterbacks on the active roster or will the fragility of the position force them to consider three? Expanded practice squad rules make it possible to keep all three in some fashion, but having them on the active roster protects them from poaching. The practice squad plan also presumes Webb would agree to sign with the Giants to serve in such a capacity. As fond as he is of the Giants, his loyalty is to giving himself the best chance to play.

“He’s been in the offense for a while and you can tell when he’s out there, he feels fairly comfortable,” Brian Daboll said. “He’s done a really good job since he has been here . . . He was efficient, led the team down to score points. I have a lot of confidence in Davis and I’ve seen him grow a lot.”

All of which broaches the idea that Webb, despite spending all summer playing behind Taylor, might be the better option as the No. 2. Is he a better quarterback? Probably not. Does he have a better grasp of the system the Giants are implementing? No knock on Taylor or even Jones, for whom it is all still new, but Webb is decidedly more confident with it.

There were some who came into this preseason thinking Taylor might beat out Jones for the starting job. It turns out, as the summer ends, that the Giants do in fact have a quarterback competition, perhaps even a controversy. It just happens to be for the backup spot.

And before you go thinking no team would make a last-second switch on its depth chart and cut the guy who has taken all the second-string reps to keep the third-stringer, remember that is exactly how Webb’s first stint with the Giants ended as Kyle Lauletta leapfrogged him on cutdown day.

Taylor started the game against the Jets behind an offensive line that was 80% backups (center Jon Feliciano was the only projected starter on the field). His opening drive was a three-and-out that ended with a sack, his second drive ended with an interception, and his third ended on the first snap when he rolled to his right, threw a pass to tight end Daniel Bellinger and was hammered in the midsection by defensive lineman Micheal Clemons. Taylor was slow to get up, eventually jogged to the sideline,was carted to the locker room and did not return to the game.

“He should be OK,” Daboll said. “I think he just landed hard. I talked to him at halftime and he said he felt better.”

That left Webb playing the rest of the game at quarterback. He completed 30 of 34 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown and nearly engineered a third straight preseason comeback victory when he led a drive that gave the Giants a 27-24 lead with 2:02 remaining on a 49-yard field goal by Ryan Santoso.

“This was the best preseason I have had,” said Webb, who in three games was 60-for-81 for 457 yards and three touchdowns for a team-high passer rating of 99.7. He also was the only Giants quarterback who did not throw an interception.

“It was a lot of fun this preseason,” Webb said. “Hopefully it works out.”

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.