Big Blue View
The New York Giants are betting heavily on quarterback Jaxson Dart.
Even with the arrival of John Harbaugh, a revamped defense, and renewed emphasis on the run game, the Giants will go as far as Dart is capable of taking them. Dart’s rookie season was exciting, with flashes of brilliance and even some Mahomesian magic. But there’s also still plenty of room for improvement in Dart’s game, and national opinions on him are split.
For instance, Dart was the 28th-ranked quarterback in SB Nation’s analytics powered preseason quarterback rankings. That put him four spots below Tyler Shough at the bottom of their 4th tier of QBs, just above 2025 first overall pick Cam Ward as the second-worst QB in the second-worst tier.
Here’s how Dart graded out on their 6 criteria
Personally, I am both okay saying that Dart is a fourth-tier quarterback, and saying that I don’t put much stock in their rankings.
Frankly, I struggle with a piece of analysis that doesn’t show it’s work or explain the methodology: Case in point, Jaxson Dart had 24 total touchdowns in 14 games last year, while Lamar Jackson had 23 total touchdowns in 13 games. Yet, Jackson was given a “10” in scoring, while Dart got a “4”.
Of course, the answer is in their “tilt” metric which seems to be there to arm wrestle results into line with popular perception.
Known problems with this model: This scoring format naturally hurts quarterbacks with fewer starts in the NFL, because these numbers pull heavily from the 2025 season, with the tilt being evaluated based on career body of work. In reality, Cam Ward and Jaxson Dart should be higher in the rankings — but we just don’t have enough to tilt their rankings up. Similarly, Shedeur Sanders had one of the worst runs as a starter not just in 2025, but in NFL history. This gives him a lot more wiggle room to move up, but it can’t be reflected at this time.
But as I said, I’m also okay with saying Dart still has to earn respect league-wide.
As things stand now, I’d suggest that the arrow is pointed up, but Dart definitely still needs to work on areas of his game to become a trusted franchise quarterback.
Former NFL scout Nate Tice called Dart an “athletic project” when evaluating each of last year’s rookie quarterbacks on the “Football 301” podcast. (You can watch the full podcast below).
“My first and foremost takeaway re-watching Jaxson,” Tice said, “and this was my takeaway watching him in college and watching him during his rookie season.
“Dude’s a hell of an athlete. Dude is strong. Dude can run. He’s got legit, legit vision. Like, he sets up blocks and he’s willing to chuck some stuff and create some...
