With the New York Giants enjoying the remaining hours of their mini-bye before returning fully to work on Wednesday to prepare for the Denver Broncos, this seems like a good time to review the team’s 53-man roster.
With six games played, here is a thought on every player on the team’s 53-man roster.
Jaxson Dart — The rookie quarterback clearly has arm talent. He has escapability. He has what many refer to as “moxie.” There is an obvious toughness about him.
All of those things are important, and Giants fans should be excited about them. None of those qualities is the most important thing Dart has brought to the Giants.
The 22-year-old has swagger. He has an undeniable confidence. He has infectious energy. He brings a willingness to confront the negative vibes that have surrounded a struggling franchise, to believe they don’t matter, and to pull his teammates toward believing the same thing. That leadership, that belief that right now is what matters, is the most important thing Dart has brought to the Giants.
“We can’t be naive to everything. We hear what people say. Definitely lights a fire in us,” Dart said of himself and rookie running back Cam Skattebo after the Giants defeated the Eagles. “We’re just trying to set a standard of intensity here each and every day.
“I just think there’s, at times, some negativity that’s surrounding here. For us, some of the new guys that are coming here, we just got here, so we don’t feel like we were involved in the past. We’ve got a lot of winners on this team, guys who come out every single day, work their (butt) off to put on a good showing on Sundays. I feel like we’re just connected. We just had some games, times and those moments where it hasn’t gone our way. We do feel like we’re a really good team, we have really good players. We’re just trying to win games.”
Dart is changing the attitude, the culture, the vibe around the Giants. Whatever you want to call it. That is the biggest reason why Dart might end up being the quarterback the Giants have been searching for.
Russell Wilson — The Wilson era as Giants’ QB1 did not last as long as many in and around the organization hoped it would — though, if you administered truth serum to Brian Daboll you might learn that three games was longer than Daboll wanted to wait to hand the reigns to Dart.
Wilson had the one great 450-yard, three-touchdown game against the Dallas Cowboys, though he faltered in overtime. Still, perhaps we were overly optimistic (don’t we all want to be optimistic?) about what the 37-year-old could still do in his 14th year following failed stints in Denver and Pittsburgh.
It is going to be interesting to see if the Giants, who are said to be listening to offers for Wilson but not calling teams themselves, can find a taker for him before...