Sportsnaut
Ready or not, the Jaxson Dart era has officially begun with the New York Giants after head coach Brian Daboll benched Russell Wilson following an 0-3 start to the season. It won’t be an easy NFL starting debut for the 2025 first-round pick out of Ole Miss as he faces the undefeated Los Angeles Chargers at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
The Chargers boast one of the league’s top defenses through three weeks, allowing just 276.7 yards per game while recording seven sacks and three interceptions. Dart will face this solid unit while operating behind a mediocre offensive line that has struggled to protect Wilson.
Those protection issues were glaring in Sunday’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, where Wilson was pressured 54.4% of the time, according to Pro Football Focus. Through three games, Wilson absorbed seven sacks while completing just 59.1% of his passes for 778 yards, three touchdowns, and three interceptions.
In an interview with Sportsnaut’s Evan Groat, The Athletic’s NFL senior writer Mike Sando doesn’t have a problem with Dart starting so soon, but does have a warning.
“I don’t think you’re gonna ruin a quarterback necessarily by putting him in right now,” explained Sando. “Now how you handle him going forward if it gets tough for him, if he’s getting beat up too much, you could have decisions to make. But I don’t have a problem with them going to him right now at the way Russell Wilson’s been playing.”
Dart had an impressive preseason with the Giants. In three games — one start — the rookie completed 32-of-47 passes for 372 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Giants head coach Brian Daboll has had Dart enter games, but only to hand off or run, not throw a pass.
Sando told Sportsnaut that while Dart may not have been highly regarded among some team executives heading into the draft, the rookie has changed their opinion.
“Jaxson Dart was not in the quarterback tier survey of 50 coaches and executives because he’s a rookie,” said Sando. “But that being said, I do know a couple people that saw him over the summer that weren’t necessarily super high on him coming out but said, ‘Wow. You can see that there’s something there.’ Sometimes you just don’t have to overthink it — you can just watch him throw the ball. He looks pretty good.”
It doesn’t get much easier after Week 4 for Dart. He’ll battle the New Orleans Saints, Philadelphia Eagles, Denver Broncos, and Philadelphia again in his first five career starts.
The Giants are 6.5-point home underdogs to the Chargers.
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