Confident Jaxson Dart appears ready to be the face of the Giants franchise — whenever that time may be

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Here’s all you need to know about the confidence of Giants rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart:

Making his on-field debut Friday at rookie minicamp, the first-round pick and future face of the franchise wore a sparkling diamond chain around his neck. Then, with no hint of sarcasm, told the story of how it was originally his little sister’s before it caught his eye during Christmas break and asked to borrow it.

The diamonds were fake, but he had no reason to explain that. He didn’t mind offering up how he landed on his sartorial choice, either. His confidence comes that easily.

Dart will one day be the starting quarterback of the New York Giants. If all goes to plan, it won’t be in Week 1 as Russell Wilson goes for his fourth act in the NFL. But at some point, the team will be his, and it’s obvious why.

Dart shared the field this weekend with more players who will likely never play an NFL game than those who will, yet on Thursday night he gathered the temps to talk through the offensive script and walk through it. The plays were all extremely basic concepts to Dart — most of which he likely ran at the University of Mississippi — but he spent the night making sure everyone would be on the same page.

He has an unusual ability to retain information as a rookie quarterback. Fellow rookie Cam Skattebo recognized it within 24 hours of being around him, and the Giants organization has teased some of those moments during their internal video series (that is definitely not “Hard Knocks”).

“We do a variety of things with our evaluations, whether it’s being prepared, doing a good job of answering things quickly, changing the picture and being able to fix it, workouts, dinners, senior Bowl, combine,” head coach Brian Daboll told me before the start of rookie minicamp Friday. “He did a nice job in all the areas and touchpoints of responding in the right way. And that’s all important… and then he was good on tape.”

And then there’s the question about cadence. The Giants drafted two franchise pillars in the first round of a draft that took place two weeks ago, and all anyone can talk about are jersey numbers and clapping.

Former NFL coach Jon Gruden asked Dart in a predraft media exercise to let him hear the snap count, to which Dart just clapped. It made the rounds, and it gave the appearance that Dart was a football mute when cadence is hardly an emphasis in today’s college game.

So when he was asked about his work on the snap count Friday, Dart was unsurprisingly ready.

“Did you guys hear me good when I was out there?” Dart said to the media quickly, with the exact right balance of arrogance and humor that only someone confident in themselves could deliver in that moment.

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However long the wait for Dart to finally start is, the Giants’ path to him was longer.

Dart had just finished his sophomore season at (and first season with) Mississippi when the Giants signed playoff-winning quarterback Daniel Jones to a four-year, $160 million contract. The Giants did a nationwide tour of college quarterbacks during the 2023 season, even before Jones tore his ACL but especially afterward.

Sometimes a team is bad, but they get lucky. Chicago, Washington and New England all stunk in 2023 and were rewarded with a 2024 draft class where they could pick their franchise quarterback without moving a muscle. The Giants, equally stinky but challenged with the sixth overall pick, did not have the same luxury.

After starting three different quarterbacks last season and playing a fourth, the Giants spent this offseason not being in the same position. They signed Wilson and Jameis Winston for 2024 at a combined price of what one Jones cost the Colts so that they didn’t enter the draft hungry.

“In terms of options out there we were comfortable with that, and we didn’t want to force ourselves into a corner if we had to take one if the value didn’t match up,” Giants general manager Joe Schoen explained Friday afternoon. “Once we were able to get Jaxson and get him for what we did, and still build a team around him with some pieces, it was a big relief. It was a big relief.

“Because it’s a tedious process. It’s long. It’s travel, it’s workouts, it’s bringing them in, being gone in the fall, meeting the team at games, going to a lot of quarterback games. It was a really long year, coupled with a three-win season.”

Daboll liked Dart in the pre-draft process. The personnel department had done plenty of work on him. And Schoen went into the draft believing Abdul Carter would be available for them at No. 3 and hoping that Dart would make it past the Steelers at No. 21.

As the draft got later, Schoen checked with his head coach about the potential move up from No. 34 back into the first round. He could give away his 65th overall pick in 2025 and next year’s third to ensure he’d get Dart, or he could stay patient and part with a compensatory 2025 pick with next year’s third in order to get the quarterback.

‘When you’re in my role and you’re going through the thought process and you’re going to move up, you want to give up as little as you can and still get the player,” Schoen says. “So how can we thread the needle and not give up pick 65 and only give up 99 and next year’s third.

“However, if you get cute and somebody else comes up and gets him, and you don’t get the player you want because of pick 65, are you going to kick yourself?”

A general manager who has taken his fair share of licks in this role could have gotten greedy. He stayed patient, found an opening and got his guy.

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On Wednesday night the NFL will release the 2025 regular season schedule. Every sports outlet, including this website, will then have license to accurately predict what each team’s record will be.

For the Giants, most people will try to find that tough midseason stretch that will see Wilson falter and Dart naturally rise to the starting role his draft position promised him. Something like this has happened so often in league history you can almost be sure the prop bet will land somewhere between Weeks 6 to 10.

That’s not Wilson’s plan, especially after signing a heavily incentivized one-year contract. And that’s not exactly the Giants’s plan, either.

“His job is to be ready when he’s called upon, to prepare and to learn our systems,” Daboll said plainly. “There’s a lot to learn when you’re a rookie quarterback. There’s a lot to learn when you’re a rookie, but when you’re a quarterback there’s even more. He’s going to do everything he can to be as ready as he can be.”

There’s an interesting psychology when it comes to the Giants talking about Dart. They are excited for his potential, but for so many reasons they can’t sound too excited. The Tennessee Titans are bringing jersey numbers out of retirement for the top quarterback. Meanwhile, the Giants offer heavy caveats about their rookie any time they sense a smile creeping on their face.

“Because there’s a lot he can learn,” Schoen says. “Coming from the college scheme… whether it’s cadence, calling the play instead of reading boards, protections. A lot of times they’re going fast or it’s on the center.

“So what we’re going to ask him to do to execute the offense at a high level, the ability to sit back and watch two pros who have done it at a high level for a long time in Russ and Jameis, I think anybody can benefit from that. What’s their routine, how do they approach it, how do they watch film. The pressure of this city, being a first-round quarterback, there’s a lot that goes with it. So being able to sit back, watch and observe and learn and not have to go out and execute with all the pressure on you will ultimately benefit you in the long run.”

Wilson doesn’t believe he’s a placeholder for the inevitable switch. The leadership talk about him is real, and the Giants believe he still is a playoff-caliber quarterback. Sure, the end of last season left plenty to be desired in Pittsburgh, but league sources have long stated Wilson’s non-renewal with the Steelers was about personalities as much as it was football.

In Wilson, the Giants have one of seven quarterbacks in NFL history with at least 10 Pro Bowls and a Super Bowl to their name. That must count for something, right?

Schoen and Daboll were part of the Buffalo group that drafted Josh Allen in 2018. The Bills planned to sit Allen to begin his career until Nathan Peterman had one of the worst Week 1 first-half performances in recent NFL history. And Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka was on the Chiefs staff when they sat Patrick Mahomes until the final week of his rookie year.

Point being, plenty of teams have plans in the second week of May for their rookie quarterbacks that may or may not go accordingly.

What’s sure is that Daboll has a quarterback he can coach hard. When asked about that with Dart, the head coach doesn’t bite.

“Your job is just to try to get these guys to improve,” Daboll said. “When we went through our process with Jaxson, I’ve said it and I know Joe has said it, we’re happy Jaxson is here.”

Let’s hear it from the rookie, then.

“Yeah, he coaches me up like every second I’m around him,” Dart said. “He’s the guy that will walk in a room, say goodbye and whatnot, and then he’ll come back 30 seconds later because he has an idea. So, he’s constantly coaching me, and I think that’s what I want to be around.

“I want to be coached the hardest, and I feel like that’s going to help me excel at the highest level and help me reach my potential. So, there’s not another coach I’d rather be playing for.”