Brian Daboll’s Powerful Four-Word Message to Jaxson Dart on Draft Night Resurfaces

Jaxson Dart and Brian Daboll had an important phone call after the Giants picked the QB in the first round of last April's draft.
Jaxson Dart and Brian Daboll had an important phone call after the Giants picked the QB in the first round of last April's draft. / @Giants
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Brian Daboll and the New York Giants traded up in last April's draft to get Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart with the 25th pick. Moments after that pick was made official, Daboll and the QB spoke over the phone and with the head coach ending the conversation with this powerful four-word message: "I'm banking on you."

Fast forward to today, the 22-year-old Dart is now preparing for his first NFL start which will come this Sunday against the Chargers after Daboll decided on Tuesday to make a change at QB.

With Russell Wilson, who is on a one-year deal with the Giants, now watching from the sidelines, a lot of the pressure now rests on Dart's shoulders to turn this 0-3 team around.

But even more of the pressure is on Daboll, as it seems like his job is on the line and he desperately needs the rookie quarterback to pick up some wins for a franchise that has missed the playoffs the last two seasons after making the postseason back in 2022, which was Daboll's first with the team.

Here's a look back at that phone call on draft night, which ended with Daboll and Dart telling each other that they loved one another.

Dart telling Daboll he was a "smart man" for banking for him showed how much confidence the kid has in himself.

Now he'll have to back up those words on the field. Or Daboll's time with the Giants could soon be over.


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Andy Nesbitt
ANDY NESBITT

Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.