Big Blue View
Let’s look at Dart’s development as he hits what might be considered the first checkpoint of his career
Everyone with a social media account or platform of some sort seems to have an opinion on how New York Giants rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart has performed in his first spring as an NFL quarterback.
We have already discussed the ridiculousness of some of those uneducated opinions, formed without seeing a single snap of Dart’s work as a Giant.
Rather than rehash that or give you my views on the five practices I have witnessed this spring, let’s examine some thoughts from the people who count — the ones who work with him.
Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka said recently that the Giants have a detailed plan for Dart’s development that stretches over a period of years. That includes an outline of where his progress should be at certain points in that timeline.
With mandatory minicamp ending on Wednesday, we have reached one of those early checkpoints.
“I think whenever you draft a quarterback early, you want to have a plan or some semblance of a plan or schedule put in place to understand that it’s not really a one-week [plan]; it’s a six-month, one-year, two-year type plan for really any player,” Kafka said. “For any player you get you want to see what that player is going to be at some point in the distance, six months, 12 months, 18 months in the future, where his progress is and where he should be. That way, along the way you can evaluate is he on schedule? Is he a little bit further behind? Do we need to add or subtract certain things?”
Head coach Brian Daboll said before Tuesday’s first practice of mandatory minicamp that Dart’s spring had been “excellent.”
“He’s picking up the information. It’s really good to have (quarterback) Russ (Russell Wilson) and (quarterback) Jameis (Winston) and even (quarterback) Tommy (DeVito) because Tommy’s been in the system for a few years here. And he’s kind of the head statesman in terms of that and all the adjustments that take place or the calls,” Daboll said. “He’s fit right in with those guys. He’s smart. He’s aggressive with the football, which I like. And then the true test will be once we start and there’s live hitting and preseason games and things like that. But he’s progressed since he’s been here to where he is now. He’s made good improvement.”
Quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney has been impressed by Dart’s approach.
“It’s impressive to see the last couple of weeks how he’s prepared and made the transition to becoming a pro,” Tierney said. “He’s done a really good job of coming in here and understanding what he’s got to do to make himself a pro.”
Tierney said that Dart is an “instinctive” player.
“Does a really good job knowing where to go with the ball,” Tierney said. “When you’re a rookie you don’t know what you don’t know yet and you’re trying to...
