diff --git a/release-notes/VERSION-2.x b/release-notes/VERSION-2.x
index 2f1b1dc4f9..e682236612 100644
--- a/release-notes/VERSION-2.x
+++ b/release-notes/VERSION-2.x
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ Project: jackson-databind
 #2962: Auto-detection of constructor-based creator method skipped if there is
    an annotated factory-based creator method (regression from 2.11)
  (reported by Halil I-S)
+#2973: DeserializationProblemHandler is not invoked when trying to deserializing String
+ (reported by zigzago@github)
 
 2.12.0 (29-Nov-2020)
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/DeserializationContext.java b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/DeserializationContext.java
index 9b8ef77136..5229520710 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/DeserializationContext.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/DeserializationContext.java
@@ -869,9 +869,7 @@ public String extractScalarFromObject(JsonParser p, JsonDeserializer<?> deser,
             Class<?> scalarType)
         throws IOException
     {
-        return reportInputMismatch(scalarType, String.format(
-"Cannot deserialize value of type %s from %s (token `JsonToken.START_OBJECT`)",
-ClassUtil.getClassDescription(scalarType), _shapeForToken(JsonToken.START_OBJECT)));
+        return (String) handleUnexpectedToken(scalarType, p);
     }
 
     /*
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/filter/ProblemHandler1767Test.java b/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/filter/ProblemHandler1767Test.java
index ffbd7b4aaf..a57ffdd0e2 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/filter/ProblemHandler1767Test.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/filter/ProblemHandler1767Test.java
@@ -41,5 +41,4 @@ public void testPrimitivePropertyWithHandler() throws Exception {
         assertNotNull(result);
         assertEquals(1, result.a);
     }
-    
 }
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/filter/ProblemHandler2973Test.java b/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/filter/ProblemHandler2973Test.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6c9c1abf54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/filter/ProblemHandler2973Test.java
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+package com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.filter;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParser;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonToken;
+
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.*;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.DeserializationProblemHandler;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.exc.MismatchedInputException;
+
+public class ProblemHandler2973Test extends BaseMapTest
+{
+    // [databind#2973]
+    static class WeirdTokenHandler
+        extends DeserializationProblemHandler
+    {
+        @Override
+        public Object handleUnexpectedToken(DeserializationContext ctxt,
+                JavaType targetType, JsonToken t, JsonParser p,
+                String failureMsg)
+            throws IOException
+        {
+            String result = p.currentToken().toString();
+            p.skipChildren();
+            return result;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /*
+    /**********************************************************
+    /* Test methods
+    /**********************************************************
+     */
+
+    // [databind#2973]
+    public void testUnexpectedToken2973() throws Exception
+    {
+        // First: without handler, should get certain failure
+        ObjectMapper mapper = sharedMapper();
+        try {
+            mapper.readValue("{ }", String.class);
+            fail("Should not pass");
+        } catch (MismatchedInputException e) {
+            verifyException(e, "Cannot deserialize value of type `java.lang.String` from Object value");
+        }
+
+        // But DeserializationProblemHandler should resolve:
+        mapper = jsonMapperBuilder()
+            .addHandler(new WeirdTokenHandler())
+            .build();
+        ;
+        String str = mapper.readValue("{ }", String.class);
+        assertEquals("START_OBJECT", str);
+    }
+}