Why Jaxson Dart is Primed to Take a Big Leap in Year 2

The Giants' quarterback prodigy showed flashes of who he can be with a few good pieces, and the franchise is intent on finding him more this offseason.

Jan 4, 2026; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart (6) warms up before the game against the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

It wasn't very long into the New York Giants' 2025 season that the message was clear to many: the team's brief experiment with veteran quarterback Russell Wilson didn't yield a good return on investment.

It only took one month of regular-season games before the fanbase started clamoring for the rookie Jaxson Dart to take over the helm and show them all what he's got.

That was the main focus of what quickly became another lost year for the Giants, which ended with another disappointing 4-13 record.

The Giants needed to know whether their draft day move to jump back into the first round to select Dart at the 25th pick was a smart risk that had landed them the franchise savior they had been missing since Eli Manning retired in 2019.

Despite their awful record and another brutal round of injuries that took away several key players in his supporting cast, Dart provided the exact answer that everyone in East Rutherford was looking for as he posted one of the more impressive rookie resumes across the NFL.

In his first 14 starts as a professional signal caller, Dart threw for 2,272 passing yards and scored 24 combined touchdowns that led all first-year quarterbacks in the 2025 class.

His competitive spirit helped the Giants remain competitive in a majority of their games, and three of his four wins were against opponents with more impressive rosters on paper.

What was most impressive about his debut performance was how he stuck to it and kept trying to will his team to victory despite all the turmoil that was impacting the locker, from the aforementioned injuries to his arsenal to the coaching turnover that began taking place midway through the regular season and usually tends to set most young quarterbacks back in their development.

As the Giants change the guard to the John Harbaugh head-coaching era next fall, the next question regarding Dart is whether he can take the next step in his progression and lead the Giants to more victories and potentially a trip to the postseason.

NFL.com analyst Nick Shook seems to believe the Giants' gunslinger is more than primed to take a big leap in 2026, and he thinks it'll happen as New York works hard to bring in more of the right pieces that fit the quarterback's skill set.

"Dart's start to the season was stronger than his finish, a reality brought on by his failure to protect himself while trying to will the Giants to victories," Shook said.

"That element of his game must be improved if he is to enjoy a lengthy career. It's Priority No. 1 entering 2026, but there are plenty of examples that suggest Dart could become the reliable signal-caller the Giants have lacked for quite some time.

He's already demonstrated a creative instinct that makes him difficult to defend as both a runner and passer, an accurate arm, a willingness to scramble for positive gains, and a competitive fire reminiscent of Baker Mayfield's moxie.

Dart will need to improve when it comes to his decision-making as a passer, but much of his development will depend on how offensive coordinator Mat Nagy steers that direction.

Will Jaxson Dart and the NY Giants Have Enough to Be a True Contender Next Season?

Sep 28, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart (6) and running back Cam Skattebo (44) record a video on a smartphone after defeating the Los Angeles Chargers at MetLife Stadium. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

To put out the opinion that the Giants, had they stayed fully healthy, would have soared to great heights in year one behind Jaxson Dart is possibly a stretch by anyone's imagination.

One of the glaring issues beyond the talent on the field was the weekly mishaps in game planning and strategy that seemed to come from the coaching staff on the sidelines. That, along with continued weakness on defense, was largely responsible for a handful of the Giants' grueling losses during the 2025 season.

Still, it would have been nice to see what more Dart and company could have accomplished if they had a fully loaded huddle to play with on Sundays. Malik Nabers was already an ascending superstar following his record-setting rookie debut in 2024 and would have provided Dart with a true No. 1 threat that can stretch the field and give defenses fits on any given down.

Dart and Cam Skattebo were the dynamic duo that energized the Giants’ rushing game and set the tone for the unit to jolt into the top five in yards and touchdowns down the stretch of the season after Skattebo injured his ankle in Week 8.

Aside from them, the Giants found surprising producers in Wan’Dale Robinson, who stepped up as the offense’s top target with his first 1,000-yard season, and Theo Johnson, with whom Dart has established a comfortable connection, leading to improvements in his receiving metrics. 

If the Giants can successfully bring all those names back healthy in 2026, they’ll be off to a good start towards being a contender. The work doesn’t end there for Harbaugh and Joe Schoen, though, with their next priority being adding a couple of extra weapons via free agency or the draft to bolster the huddle and unleash the abilities of Dart’s arm.

The other half of the equation is providing the players with the right scheme that gels with the type of team they want to be—an explosive one that allows their quarterback to sit back in the pocket and trust his teammates to make the big plays downfield. 

The Giants might have just found that with the hiring of Matt Nagy as their next offensive coordinator this week, who, while he wasn’t the flashiest name on the open market, was rather successful in getting the Kansas City Chiefs' offense to that caliber. 

Under Nagy, the Chiefs were among the top 15 teams in total yards in two of his three seasons holding the job. They rode off the coattails of their vertical passing attack that powered them to a Super Bowl title in 2023 with the sixth-most passing yards and 28 total passing touchdowns that ranked No. 8 in the league. 

Kansas City’s run game was never that impressive during that same period, which could be a concern for the Giants, who are starting to steer that ship in the right direction.

However, they’ve still brought in a man who has worked with experienced and younger arms alike and has authored scripts that have led to deep postseason runs. 

Even if the hire isn’t the flashiest, there is hope for the partnership with Dart to bear greater fruits next season and fix his rare flaws that showed themselves this season.

The fanbase needs to trust in Harbaugh's latest decision, one that holds ties to his upbringing as a coach in Andy Reid's tree, and believe that if Nagy hangs around, he'll be the guy that elevates Dart and the offense to greater heights.

A lot more still has to unfold in the coming months of the offseason, but it's fair to say the Giants began building the right foundation the moment Harbaugh walked through the doors of 1925 Giants Drive.

The return of the current main players will mean a lot for what comes next for the organization. With the right moves in free agency and the draft, it would be stunning not to see the Giants' campaign remain relevant far beyond the traditional October time marker we've grown accustomed to. 

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