Big Blue View
The New York Giants topped the New York Jets 31-12 on Saturday, which technically puts them on a winning streak.
The Giants have looked much improved this preseason and hopes are rising for the regular season. Much of the excitement is being generated by the team’s two first-round picks, Abdul Carter and Jaxson Dart. Those two have been among the best of the 2025 rookie class and seem to have bright futures ahead of them.
But what about the rest of the Giants’ rookies? If the team is going to become consistently competitive, they’ll need this year’s class to hit as well as their 2024 class did. So let’s check in on how the newest Giants fared against the Jets.
The third overall pick came into the night riding an incredible wave after logging three almost-sacks on six snaps against the Buffalo Bills in the preseason opener.
Carter wasn’t quite as dominant in the pass rush this game, though that’s partly due to the fact that Justin Fields only dropped back five times. However, we did get a look at Carter as an off-ball linebacker and in the run game … to mixed results.
We’ll start with the good, and that was how Carter was able to use his explosive athleticism to disrupt behind the line of scrimmage. He was in on multiple run stops early in the game, and looked good doing it. Run defense wasn’t a strength of Carter’s game coming out of college, and he’s definitely at his best when he can attack a gap and blow up the play in the backfield, or at least force the running back to redirect. That said, he did have a very good rep setting the edge against a pulling lineman which allowed a teammate to get the stop. Those reps were good to see, and while Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux are still the better run defenders, Carter has his place while he develops that part of his game.
Unfortunately, his night ended on an embarrassing note as he got flattened by a tight end and then run over by an offensive lineman. It was a “welcome to the NFL” moment for the rookie, and will hopefully be good teaching tape heading into the regular season.
It was an encouraging sign that Dart got better every year of his college career at Ole Miss, and it seems like he’s getting better by the day as a Giant. Dart was the best of the rookie quarterbacks in the first week of the preseason, and he backed that up with another decisive and efficient performance against the Jets.
Dart currently ranks fifth in the NFL in Success Rate, fourth in completion percentage, fourth in yards per attempt, and third in EPA/play. Overall, he’s 26 of 35 for 291 yards and 2 touchdowns, with another 29 yards and a touchdown rushing. Not bad for a little under a game of work. He’s handling what...
