Big Blue View
Jaxson Dart did enough in his rookie season to make the New York Giants believe they might have found the answer they have been seeking at quarterback since Eli Manning retired.
Dart played well enough, in fact, to be one of the reasons why John Harbaugh was interested in taking the Giants’ head-coaching job.
“The quarterback’s kind of important. You know, that’s kind of a big deal,” Harbaugh said at his introductory press conference. “I’m excited about Jaxson Dart.”
After working with the young quarterback for a few months, Harbaugh’s excitement has grown.
“I don’t know about surprised, probably just impressed more than anything. I do think he’s obsessed. I believe he really really wants to be good,” Harbaugh said recently via Bleav in Giants with Bob Papa and Carl Banks.
“He’s kinda got the it factor from a leadership standpoint because he’s respected by the guys. They just know how hard he works, how much he prepares and they respect his talent. He’s got some charisma.”
Dart has all those things. What he doesn’t have are the pelts on the wall that prove he is a top 10-type quarterback the Giants can and will win with on a consistent basis.
Quarterback rankings should be taken with a grain of salt. This list of starting quarterback rankings, though, tells a consistent story:
The story those rankings tell? That Dart has a long way to go to become the quarterback the Giants drafted him to be, and think he can be.
Simms summarized Dart this way:
Dart is a master of backyard football who can make magic happen but questions remain about the quarterback’s ability to thrive in the pocket heading into his second season.
Not so long ago a rookie quarterback named Daniel Jones excited the fan base by throwing 24 touchdown passes to 12 interceptions while passing for 3,207 yards in 13 games, 12 of them starts.
Jones was “Danny Dimes.” He could throw it. He could run it. His rookie season offered hope that GM Dave Gettleman, criticized for using the No. 6 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft on Jones, would be proven right.
That, of course, did not happen. Jones has never again reached 20 touchdown passes in a season. The 2025 season with the Indianapolis Colts is the only time Jones has surpassed the 232.8 yards passing per game that he averaged as a rookie. He averaged 238.5 yards in 13 games.
So, as good as most feel about Dart’s future, there are no guarantees. The hoped-for leap into the upper tier of quarterbacks never truly happened for Jones. Will it happen for Dart?
The New York Post did some...
