Big Blue View
Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka talks about “touchpoints” at different stages
It should come as no surprise that the New York Giants have an extensive, long-range plan for what the development of rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart should look like.
The Giants constantly referred to a very intentional evaluation process they used during a two-draft cycle that finally led them to the decision trade up and select Dart No. 25 in the 2025 NFL Draft. That was a process GM Joe Schoen called both “extensive” and “exhausting.”
Moments after the Giants drafted Dart, head coach Brian Daboll told media that “the process of developing a quarterback is just that.”
It is a process Daboll and quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney went through successfully with Josh Allen during their time with the Buffalo Bills.
As quarterbacks coach and eventually offensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs, Giants offensive coordinator/assistant head coach Mike Kafka was involved in the early years of the development of Patrick Mahomes.
Dart may never be Allen or Mahomes, and it would be unfair to put the burden of that expectation on the 22-year-old. He does, though, have the benefit of a coaching staff that has been hands-on with the process of guiding the early-career growth of arguably the best two quarterbacks currently playing the game.
The Giants are never going to lay out step-for-step their plan, timeline or expectations for getting Dart ready to play.
During a session with media at last Thursday’s OTA, though, Kafka pulled back the curtain a bit while responding to a question I asked about how lessons from his work with Mahomes can be applied to helping Dart.
“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?”
Kafka called them “touchpoints.”
“That’s no different for any position. For the quarterback, that’s what you try to put together. I’m not going to get into the details of that plan, but that’s what you want to look for,” Kafka said.” You try to put those touchpoints on, okay, is he at this point come training camp? Start of the season, where is [he] with protections or assignments? Things like that. We try to put together a little checklist and a plan for every player, and the quarterback is no different.”
Thus far, we have seen Daboll hovering near and communicating with Dart on the field as much as possible during practice...
