Giants Use Patrick Mahomes Blueprint to Help Jaxson Dart Become His Own Man

Giants OC Matt Nagy and the coaches are using a blueprint that worked with Patrick Mahomes to ensure that Jaxson Dart develops into his own man.

Jun 3, 2026; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart (6) throws the ball during organized team activities at Quest Diagnostics Training Center. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

It’s too easy to look at Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who played some of the best ball of his career from 2022 through 2025 under the watchful eye of current New York Giants offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, and wonder what might be for second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart.

Mahomes, with Nagy as his quarterbacks coach in 2022, threw for a career-best 5,250 yards. And with Nagy, who the following year became the offensive coordinator, on board, Mahomes continued to play some of his best ball, posting three straight seasons where he completed at least 67% of his passes.

But for anyone who thinks that Nagy and quarterbacks coach Brian Callahan are focused on turning Dart into a replica of Mahomes, no that’s not the plan.  

“Every quarterback's unique–they have their own strengths, they have their own weaknesses, they have their own things they need to work on,” Callahan said last week.

“They see the game differently. So any time you're comparing or trying to make somebody look like somebody else or do something that's not just unique to the quarterback, I think you get yourself in trouble.”

That’s not to say that Dart, who had a fairly successful rookie campaign, can’t one day join Mahomes in that elite level of company.

Dart’s pro development actually started under former Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, who, like Nagy, once worked with Mahomes in Kansas City, helping to implement a blueprint which, while resembling Mahomes’s development, didn’t emphasize aping the nine-year, six-time Pro Bowler and two-time league MVP.

While no one is going to confuse Dart with Mahomes, the two signal callers do share some similarities in their respective games.

Mahomes is capable of extending plays with his legs, something that Dart has shown an ability to do, though in Dart’s case, he’s been more willing to turn into a runner, whereas Mahomes, who did that earlier in his career, has dialed that back a bit as he’s aged.

Then there are the differences the Giants hope to smooth out with Dart, such as developing more patience in the pocket rather than bailing out when his initial read isn’t there, and becoming more accurate with the deep ball rather than pushing it downfield sometimes recklessly with his pure arm strength.

But at the end of the day, the Giants want Dart to be his own man.

“He's got a skill set that's unique to him, and he's done a lot of really nice things so far early in his career,” Callahan said.

“His ability to improve on things, I think, is important. And we had some very direct conversations about what those things are, and very specific plans that we had for the spring.”

Callahan didn’t go into specifics as to what those things were, but among those that were visible to onlookers at the open practices this spring included more work under center, tweaking of Dart’s footwork and grip on the football, and his throwing arc on the deeper balls where he tried working toward putting less air underneath the ball which allowed a defender to recover and make a play on it.

Then there are the little intricacies the Giants have sought to implement to ensure Dart has success in 2026 and beyond.

“We can use that for more, like, routines and maybe how we did things,” Nagy told reporters back in April. “We've talked a little bit about the process and what he's been through, but we've also made it clear that you have to be Jaxson Dart.  

“It’s our job to surround him and insulate him, give him direction, but he has to be able to tell us how he likes it, why he likes it, and so forth. We're going to be really intentional on how we do that.”  

Callahan is encouraged by what he’s seen from Dart this spring.

“He did a really nice job with it,” Callahan said of Dart and the work he put in during the spring. “I think he's gotten better over the course of the spring. I'm looking forward to getting to training camp.”

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