Jaxson Dart Demonstrates Inspiring Parallels with Giants Legend Eli Manning

Former New York Giants center Shaun O’Hara looks at current Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart and smiles.

That’s because Dart has the “it” factor about him, a type of swag and confidence that is a prerequisite to thrive anywhere, but in particular in the demanding New York market, where things are often magnified tenfold.

That swagger almost reminds O’Hara of another young and somewhat brash rookie quarterback, a guy named Eli Manning to whom O’Hara snapped the ball from 2004-10 and with whom the retired offensive lineman has developed a close friendship after helping a young Manning get settled into his role as leader of the offense.

“So here comes Eli, and none of us knew anything about Eli other than the fact that he sounded a little bit stuck up 'cause he didn't wanna play for the San Diego Chargers,” O’Hara recalled to the Locked On Giants podcast during a promotional appearance for The Athletic’s Playoff Simulator.

“So we're like, ‘Who's this snot-nosed kid that we're gonna have to babysit?’”

O’Hara, in particular, worried about whether he’d have to hold Manning’s hand, given the close working relationship a center has with the quarterback. But to his surprise and relief, it wasn’t too long before Manning was running the show.

“One of the things that impressed me so much about Eli as a young player and as a young quarterback was that he never asked me to do his job,” he said. “And I think we all kind of felt like, ‘Man, Eli, he's got this kind of it factor. He wants the ball in his hand, like with, whenever we'd run two-minute offense in practice, he wanted that moment.

“He wanted to make that throw, and he wanted to make that play, and he was comfortable in those chaotic moments.”

Giants hope for a second coming

New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart | Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Dart, who, like Manning, is a first-round draft pick the Giants traded to acquire (albeit not a blockbuster trade for Dart), reminds O’Hara of Manning in so many ways.

There’s the moxie, the take-charge attitude, the fearlessness, the high football IQ, the darn till dusk work ethic, and the media savviness–all of which make one forget that Dart is only 22 years old.

“I see a lot of those same characteristics in Jaxson Dart,” O’Hara said. “When you look at the Giants and what Jaxson Dart has brought to this offense, there's a different type of energy.

“Once he was thrust into the starting position, you know, all of a sudden, there was a spark. There are times where he just kind of makes what, you know, they call ‘loose plays’ sometimes, where he'll just step up in the pocket and move around and kind of make things happen that maybe are not the way the plays are designed to go. That is a unique quality and a unique characteristic.”

And for the Giants, hopefully a winning one down the line, so that Giants fans, instead of thinking about the following year’s draft after having their hopes of a postseason berth crushed, will be in a position to use The Athletic's NFL playoff simulator.

“It's kind of fun to toy with and just kind of go through,” O’Hara said, noting that it can also be used to project any team’s final record if fans are interested in figuring out the final draft order for the non-playoff teams.

“I don't like hearing fans talk about tanking because I want to improve my draft stock,” he said. “As a player, I was never counting on next year's draft to help me win a Super Bowl ring, and I was never focused on next year.”

But O’Hara understands that Giants fans don’t have much to be happy about with the team on the brink of becoming the first one to be mathematically eliminated from this year’s postseason contention.

“I know fans, you know, look, once, once they feel like their team is out of the playoff hunt, they do start looking for, all right, when is the next thing that I can get excited about?”

The next thing is the draft, where the Giants, entering Week 12, currently hold the second overall pick.

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