Why Jaxson Dart was Giants' Most Impactful Rookie

The New York Giants received a ton of contributions from their 2025 draft class, but one obvious player's work stood above the rest.

New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart lived up to his draft pedigree in his first season. | Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

In another miserable season for the New York Giants where there wasn't much left to admire in the record column, rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart was at least one player that drew excitement from both the organization and the fanbase.

Dart was one of the Giants' boldest moves in the offseason by way of them moving back up into the first-round draft order and poaching him from any other interested teams in search of a rookie prospect to mold.

The fans were eager to see what Dart could do early on in former head coach Brian Daboll's system, to the point that they were calling for his debut within the first few games of the season, as the Russell Wilson experiment just wasn't yielding the proper results for the offense.

As it turned out, the cries of the exhausted Giants' faithful were justified by Dart replacing Wilson in Week 4 and producing one of the brightest resumes among the first-year quarterbacks with 2,739 total scrimmage yards, 24 touchdowns, and only five interceptions despite all the losing that New York endured.

Leaving one's rookie season with such a compelling stat line that gave people a reason to stay engaged with the franchise is bound to garner some kudos, and Dart received his from Pro Football Focus, who chose the flashy gunslinger as their pick for the Giants' most impactful rookie of the 2025 campaign.

"Dart paired with running back Cam Skattebo to bring a new energy to the Giants’ offense," PFF analyst Ben Cooper said.

"While that was short-lived, with Skattebo suffering a season-ending leg injury in Week 8, Dart remained a big-play threat for the 4-13 Giants."

"The Ole Miss product ranked eighth in big-time throw rate (5.2%), and his 38 first-down runs were the fifth most in a regular season for a rookie quarterback over the past 10 years."

Apr 25, 2025; East Rutherford, NJ, US; New York Giants first round draft pick, Jaxson Dart, takes questions from the media during his introduction press conference. New York Giants Mandatory Credit: Thomas Salus-Imagn Images | Thomas Salus-Imagn Images

Jaxson Dart was the biggest focal point of the Giants' 2025 season

Dart was definitely deserving of this latest acknowledgement from PFF in light of his rather successful introduction into playing football at the NFL level.

Sure, Dart's presence at the helm wasn't immediately stacking wins in the left column of the Giants' record, but achieving a bunch of early victories was always going to be a difficult feat with the various obstacles that were standing in his way, from key injuries to some of his playmakers to turnover on the coaching staff.

Instead, the proper assessment of Dart's rookie season should be about more than just the numbers he was putting up on the scoreboard. What was equally as important was his ability to be a leader in the locker room, set the tone of the new team culture, and keep his teammates engaged and competing to get better, no matter the final results on Sunday.

That's exactly what we saw at various points during the Giants' brutal nine-game losing skid, which didn't end until Week 17, when the Giants defeated the Raiders for their third win of the season. 

Dart repeatedly voiced his displeasure and unwillingness to accept the constant losing that has plagued the organization for years and vowed to be the reason that glimpses of success were to come.

The Giants finished off the 2025 season with a couple such outings against the aforementioned Raiders and Dallas Cowboys in the finale at MetLife Stadium, where Dart put together consecutive performances completing at least 68% of his throws for over 250 scrimmage yards and four total touchdowns that gave New York some impressive wins and positive momentum heading into 2026.

Most importantly, Dart was able to officially silence all the endless critics who were creating concerns about his aggressive play style and how it would impede his ability to stay present in games and lead his team to valuable victories.

The four the Giants managed to earn this season might not have been valuable in the moment, but they certainly were for the franchise's bigger picture, which will now build itself around Dart for the foreseeable future. 

He has an entire team believing they can do great things behind him, and that's reason enough to hand him the tag of most impactful rookie.

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