Jaxson Dart Heads Into Year 2 With a New Offense, New Mindset and a Lot to Prove

The New York Giants believe they have their franchise quarterback in former Ole Miss signal-caller Jaxson Dart. Dart, as a rookie, certainly showed he had the moxie, playing with a fearlessness that was at times worrisome, just as his defiance in insisting he wasn’t going to change was.

Dart, however, was taught a lesson that appears to have stuck with him as he gets ready for Year 2 of his NFL career. Whereas in the past he never missed a game due to a head injury, he had two games taken away from him last season because of the same fearlessness.

That lesson made him realize that being sidelined not only stinks from a competitive point of view but is also borderline selfish because, by not protecting yourself when warranted, you put your entire team behind the eight ball if you aren’t out there.

“That was, like, one of our first meetings with (passing game coordinator/quarterbacks) Coach (Brian) Callahan just pulling up my tape and just going over situationally, like, is it worth the risk here in this situation?” Dart said.. And that's what we talk about a ton: just being smart in situations.

“It's important for the quarterback to make sure how he's feeling one play that he's going to feel that same way the next play. And at the same time, just having the experience last year of sitting out two games, I hadn't done that in my career. So, I just hated that time when I wasn't out there with my teammates.

“So obviously I understand the most important thing is to be out there. So, you just keep growing and learning from things. And I think I'm going to do a good job at it this year for sure.”

Let’s hope for his and the Giants’ sake that Dart can find that balance.

JAXSON DART, QB

Height: 6-2
Weight: 225 lbs.
Exp.: 2 Years
School: Ole Miss
How Acquired: D1-25

2025 in Review

New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart needs to stay out of the medical tent moving forward. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Dart had one of the most successful rookie campaigns of potential Giants franchise quarterbacks in recent memory. After starting the year as the backup to starter Russell Wilson, Dart, in 12 games, finished with 2,272 passing yards, a 63.7% completion rate, 15 passing TDs, and 5 INTs.

The dual-threat quarterback also posted 487 rushing yards and 9 rushing TDs, bringing his scoring total to 24 touchdowns, the most by a rookie quarterback last season and tied for the 16th most among all quarterbacks.

Dart also found himself in elite company, joining Kansas City Chiefs gunslinger Patrick Mahomes as the only quarterback since 1991 to lead his team to a touchdown on the opening drive in their first three starts.

Closer to home, Dart’s nine rushing touchdowns set a new franchise record for most by a Giants quarterback and also put him third all-time in that same stat league-wide, behind Cam Newton (14) and Billy Kilmer (10).

Want more? According to Warren Sharp of Sharp Football, Dart’s +0.13 EPA/attempt on third down tied Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert for the best mark by a rookie since 2020.

Contract/Cap Info

Jaxson Dart is in the second year of his four-year, $16.977 million rookie deal. His contract contains $7.99 million in guaranteed money, and he has a 2026 cap hit of $3.858 million. The Giants have an option year for the fifth season of the contract, which, if Dart continues to ascend and develop, will be picked up.

2026 Preview

It’s worth noting that Dart’s successful rookie campaign was largely a result of then-head coach Brian Daboll tailoring the offense to everything Dart had done well during his college campaign. Taking that approach allowed Dart to gain confidence as he adjusted to the speed of the game and the intricacies that pro defenses threw at him.

With Daboll gone, the Giants have been installing a new offensive system developed by offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, one that Dart described as much different from what he ran last year.

“It’s a lot of things that I haven't done before,” he said last month. “It's been fun to kind of get new experiences, try new things, have communication with the coaches on what I like, what they like, and get a ton of reps at it.

“At the same time, there's a little bit more that's involved within it. So, it's been fun to learn, to have the command, the control at the line of scrimmage. … There's a lot of just things that we can do within the system from a personnel standpoint.”

One of the differences that was apparent in the spring was more snaps under center, something Dart did just 57 times last season. With more reps under center expected, Dart has had to work on his footwork and learn to adjust his field vision since he’s not as far back as he would be in the shotgun.

Fortunately for him, head coach John Harbaugh subscribes to the “bigger is better” theory when it comes to receivers, and the Giants, in having added a few more sky-scraper type receivers in the offseason, probably did so with this in mind.

The other thing Dart needs to polish is eliminating indecisiveness, particularly on deep passes.

Last year, Dart was often guilty of holding the ball a tick or two too long on the deep passes, his 31.1% completion rate on attempts of 20+ air yards not very impressive at all, nor was the fact that 11 of his deep ball pass attempts that went incomplete a result of an inaccurate throw.

Finally, there is a matter of Dart just being smarter as a runner. He’s clearly hardwired to be competitive and showed last year that he’s not afraid to go for the gusto as a runner, squeezing out every last drop of yardage possible.

But after five trips to the medical tent, including one that resulted in a concussion diagnosis that cost him two games, Dart needs to find a balance within himself between being competitive and being smart.

All that said, the arrow is pointing upward for the second-year signal caller who hopes to lead the offense into top-10 territory league-wide.

Sign up for our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X for the latest news, and send your mailbag questions to us.

Add us as a preferred source on Google