Former Giants QB Phil Simms Makes Case for Getting Jaxson Dart on the Field This Year

Retired New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms doesn’t necessarily know what head coach Brian Daboll’s exact plan is for getting rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart on the field.

However, if it were up to him, he would get Dart into the starting lineup at some point this year, rather than keeping the kid on the bench.

“The ideal situation (is) they get off to a decent start, we see the whole team is better than it was last year,” Simms told Kay Adams on her Up & Adams podcast.

“But then there comes a point six, seven, eight weeks into the season unless you see that there’s an opportunity to really be great ... find a spot to put Jaxson Dart in there, give him some experience, let him have some success and some failures because that’s how you grow in the NFL as a quarterback.”

Simms, who was inserted into the Giants lineup in Week 5 of his rookie season, has a point. Dart can only learn so much sitting on the bench, and at some point, he’s going to need to jump into the game where he can get a feel for the speed of the game, the different tricks defensive coordinators tend to use to disguise coverages, and the overall flow.

To keep Dart on the bench for the entire year would deprive him of that, as the Giants can only simulate the speed of the game and other elements, including a live pass rush, to a certain extent in practices.

That said, getting Dart into the lineup at some point could very well be part of Daboll’s plan, though when that was to happen, it would all depend on how the team was doing and when Dart was ready.

May 10, 2025; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll talks to quarterback Jaxson Dart (6) during rookie minicamp at Quest Diagnostics Training Center. | John Jones-Imagn Images

Given the projected depth chart, Dart figures to be the third quarterback, which means that unless he’s active on game days–and that could be impossible to do given the weekly roster needs as driven by matchups and the injury situation–Dart will be the emergency quarterback.

And if he is the emergency quarterback, it means that he’s not getting into a game at all, even in a blowout where those snaps can be valuable, unless starter Russell Wilson and backup Jameis Winston can’t play.

Notably, Josh Allen of the Bills appeared in 12 games as a rookie, with 11 starts, all of which took place under Daboll's coordination. That year, the Bills also had Derek Anderson, Nathan Peterman, and Matt Barkley as their quarterbacks, with those three combining for five starts.

The other factor is that Daboll, in his fourth season, might not have the immediate luxury of enduring growing pains with a rookie quarterback who isn’t a slam dunk to win the team games–unless, as part of his plan, he’s conveyed to team ownership the importance of letting experience kicking in to help Dart take the next steps in his development.

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