John Harbaugh's "No-Overreaction Rule" Survives Dart's Yacht Jump

The Giants coach explained why he doesn't overreact to his players' offseason antics — even when they involve jumping off boats and failed backflips.

Jun 9, 2026; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh answers questions from the press after the minicamp activities at Quest Diagnostics Center. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

An NFL head coach can have any number of things pop up during the course of his day, some of which are minor and some of which need a little more attention.

If there is one thing that New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh has learned in his 18 seasons as a head coach, it’s that he doesn’t overreact to the little things that, in his mind, aren’t that important.

According to Gary Myers, that’s exactly the approach Harbaugh took regarding quarterback Jaxson Dart’s decision to jump off a yacht earlier this month after completing a dime to a receiver who was on a jet ski.  

🚨🚨THIS IS WILD🚨🚨#GIANTS STAR QB JAXSON DART POSTED A VIDEO JUMPING OFF OF HIS BOAT WHILE CELEBRATING THE FOURTH OF JULY.

🤯🤯🤯

Dart threw a couple absolute bombs to his bois on the jet skis flying across the water —- insane arm-talent. pic.twitter.com/T4lGaN4OGC

— MLFootball (@MLFootball) July 5, 2026

“It's just water. He jumped into the water. So, he should be alright if he can swim," Harbaugh told Myers. “I guess he can swim—I'm not worried about things that aren't too important.”

Harbaugh’s opinion differs from those who saw Dart’s jump as one of those risky and unnecessary moves.

But Harbaugh, in sharing a lesson that he learned very early in his coaching career, said he doesn’t sweat the little things, noting how some young coaches view everything their players do as “a reflection on them and the program they're running.”

Harbaugh, per Myers, sees things differently.

“When you start thinking like that, you overreact to things. You make things more important than they are and blow things out of proportion. So I have definitely learned that lesson over the years.”

Harbaugh certainly has had his share of moments this offseason in which had he overreacted, very few people would have blamed him.

In addition to Dart’s jump being one of them, there were the two backflips done by running back Cam Skattebo, the first one in late May at the Brian Burns celebrity softball game and the other last weekend at the Fanatics Fest in New York, the latter backflip seeing Skattebo failing to land it.

Skattebo’s actions in particular have drawn heavy criticism given how he is recovering from a season-ending ankle injury in Week 8 last year.

But the second-year running back has continued to insist that he’s good to go for training camp and that he didn’t set himself back with his youthful burst of exuberance.

Despite Harbaugh’s declaring that he’s not sweating the actions of two key members of his team’s offense, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the head coach has a friendly chat with both to remind them to be more cognizant of the optics their respective devil-may-care approaches to life can bring to the organization. 

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