Big Blue View
Quarterback Jaxson Dart is the New York Giants most important player.
I won’t spoil what Ed has to say about Dart in an upcoming piece, but considering quarterback is the most important position in the major American sports, Dart has to be the most important player on the Giants’ roster. As John Harbaugh said shortly after being hired, it’s all about the quarterback and you need to build around him.
But have the Giants done a good job of that? Are the Giants surrounding Dart with the pieces he needs for the offense to succeed?
Their offensive line was solid a year ago, ranking 11th in pass block win rate and 18th in run block win rate. It should be improved with another year of development from center John Michael Schmitz and the addition of Sisi Mauigoa at right guard.
That’s an undeniably solid start.
But what about the Giants’ weapons? Have they provided Dart with the tools he needs to attack opposing offenses without needing to use himself as a weapon? There are two types of starting quarterback in the NFL. The first is the average starter who can only play as well as the players around him, and who needs elite talent at the skill positions to raise his ceiling. The other is the Franchise Quarterback, with the subtle (but significant) difference of allowing the players around him to play up to their potential.
The belief seems to be that Dart at least has the potential to be a franchise quarterback, with the evidence that the Giants produced league-average offense despite below-average talent around Dart. We can also see the sentiment in how the drafts of the Giants, Tennessee Titans, New Orleans Saints, Cleveland Browns, and New York Jets were received.
The Titans, Saints, Browns, and Jets were all praised for acquiring young and explosive skill position players to help take the load off their young quarterbacks (or future young quarterback in the Jets’ case). The Giants, meanwhile, were praised for addressing other positions while trusting Dart to cover up their warts on offense.
To be fair, the Giants have invested in their offensive skill positions, adding hybrid tight end Isaiah Likely, fullback Patrick Ricard, and six (6) wide receivers to their roster. The concern, however, is that none of the Giants’ skill position players scare much of anybody and that’s doubly true with Malik Nabers’ status uncertain. In other words, the Giants’ “quantity over quality” approach could leave them with a bevy of options, none of them good.
That’s the point of view taken by ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, who graded the Giants’ skill position players 31st in the NFL, behind only the Miami Dolphins at 32nd.
Barnwell writes:
The Giants would rank higher if not for the serious injuries suffered by their young talent in 2025. It’s unclear whether Malik Nabers will be healthy enough to return from his knee injury to begin the season, a concerning piece of news for a player who is nearly...
