Giants Mailbag: Is Jaxson Dart Injury-Prone, and What's Holding Back the Pass Rush?

Welcome to the weekly New York Giants On SI mailbag! From offseason moves to game-day strategies, we'll do our best to answer your questions. (Some questions have been edited for brevity and clarity.)

Concerns About Jaxson Dart

From Edmundo L. (via e-mail): With the unfortunate news that Dart is missing the rest of the year, do you think the Giants will consider drafting a quarterback in a quarterback-rich class next year, or will they keep building around him? I still believe in him, but I'm curious about your take given the injuries and the potential opportunity to grab someone with high potential.

Hi Edmundo. I think the Giants keep building around Dart. That said, I do think they’ll add another quarterback, just not a Day 1 or Day 2 pick. I’ve been banging the table for them to add a young developmental prospect for a while.

I think they need to prioritize a defensive lineman, cornerback, and receiver in the next draft. But as I write this, we don’t know what the class will look like, so I think it’s premature to talk about the draft.

From Harvey G. (via e-mail): Two years, two injuries for Jaxson Dart. Can we officially say he's injury-prone?

Hi Harvey. No, we cannot say that. To me—and I realize we’re talking semantics here—I define an injury-prone person as someone who, every time you turn around, has a sprain or another soft-tissue issue. Think Andrew Thomas, Azeez Ojulari, and Jalin Hyatt.

Dart, in my opinion, has been more unlucky than anything. His start reminds me of Phil Simms’ start. I don’t know if you’re old enough to remember, but Simms broke his thumb throwing a pass when his hand hit a player’s helmet in 1980.

The following year, he had a separated shoulder when he was sacked. But ultimately, he avoided injury for most of his career—I believe he had only two more injuries of note, including torn knee ligaments in 1982 and a broken foot in 1990. Most of those injuries were just a result of the game, same as Dart.

New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

From Gene Martorony (via X): Do we think he’s got a shot to return this year or is it pretty much over for the year?

Gene, I don’t know what you think, but I don’t believe Dart has a chance to return this year. I think the three-month timeline is very aggressive, an opinion shared by an orthopedic surgeon with whom I spoke to about the injury. I understand where that came from, but who knows what the doctor who did the surgery found during the procedure?

Clock Management

From Sancho Bermuda (via X): Coaches have to use first-half timeouts. Don’t save them for the end of the 2nd quarter, especially early in the year. QB takes a big hit? Timeout. Big play on offense, and it takes time to move everyone downfield with the play clock running out? Timeout. Use timeouts for momentum.

Sancho, I’m honestly not sure what your question is, and I truly don’t understand the logic in your statement. If your quarterback takes three big hits in the first quarter and you use all your timeouts, what happens if you need a timeout before halftime to get your field goal unit on the field?

I think your stance is ‘use them or lose them,’ but what you're suggesting breaks the momentum if a team is looking to go up-tempo. Why would you want to give the opponent time to catch their breath?

The Pass Rush

From Kris Kauffeld (via X): We were led to believe that between Carter, Burns, and KT, the Giants would have a fierce pass rush. So far, they have not impacted the game. Why is that, and what do you see changing so they can be more disruptive?

Kris, let’s dig into the PFF data to find the answer.

Over two weeks, the Giants have run 112 pass-rush snaps, the second-fewest in the league. Of those, they only sent four on 95 pass rushes and generated 17 pressures.

Overall, they have a 10.1% pressure rate. They also blitzed only 13 times, among the lowest rates in the league through two weeks.

In their first two weeks, they faced two quarterbacks, Dak Prescott of Dallas and Matthew Stafford of the Rams, who can burn you if you send extra rushers. So it was, in part, a strategic decision.

The answer to your question then is simple. First, guys up front have to win their 1-on-1 battles. If Abdul Carter is drawing double-team locks (which he has been), then Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux have to win 1-on-1s. Period.

I also think they’re going to blitz Cam Ward a lot more than they did Prescott and Stafford, since Ward isn't as skilled as the teams that blitz him.

The other thing? Let Arvell Reese hunt. So far, he’s been in coverage 61 times while getting only 11 pass-rushing opportunities. I am curious to see if that changes this week.

Giants Exposed?

From Big Blue Crew (via X): Do you think the Dart injury really ends up exposing the things we thought were fixed? More focus on no pass rush; terrible O-line play can't even find a halfway decent center. Why is Odell Beckham Jr. on this roster if we don’t even put him on the field just a few times to start?

BBC, I don’t think the Dart injury exposes anything about the defense, per se. I just outlined above what’s been happening with the pass rush, which again is something separate from what you’re asking.

Offensively speaking, the pass protection needs to be better. Giants quarterbacks have completed 40.9% of their pass attempts under pressure, tying them for 18th in the league, and their 41.9 passer rating ranks 24th. The O-line was pretty solid against the Cowboys' front, but the Rams' front was in a different league.

As for Odell, the only logical explanation I can come up with is that Dart never really developed a comfort level with him in camp. I am interested to see how Jameis Winston, who did throw to Odell a bit more during camp, does with getting him involved.

Recipe for a Positive Jameis Winston Experience

Sep 21, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston (19) throws during the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

From James L. McMahan Jr. (via X): What do John Harbaugh and Matt Nagy have to adjust to make this offense run well with Mr. Winston at QB?

James, Jameis Winston is more of a pocket passer and play-action QB, so I think that’s a good place to start when you talk about differences we can expect.

The other thing to watch for is improvisation. Winston isn’t as good at improvising as Dart is when a play breaks down.

And I suspect that’s why sometimes he just chucks the ball up for grabs, so he can avoid taking a sack. Regardless, I think the Giants will go back to leaning on the running game, especially with lousy weather expected this weekend.

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