Why Jaxson Dart's Supporting Cast Could Be His Biggest Upgrade in Year 2

The New York Giants’ passing game finished 21st in the league last year (204.4 yards per game), a disappointment which many will point to the lack of quality among the receiving corps after the team lost Malik Nabers to a Week 4 season-ending ACL tear.

Such an assumption wouldn’t be too far off, as according to Sharp Football, the Giants receivers had the fourth highest percentage league wide in terms of receiver error causing incompletions.

highest % of receiver error causing incompletions

1. Jacksonville Jaguars
2. Denver Broncos
3. Cleveland Browns
4. New York Giants
5. Washington Commanders
6. Chicago Bears
7. New York Jets
8. Atlanta Falcons
9. Kansas City Chiefs
10. Minnesota Vikings
11. Tampa Bay Buccaneers…
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) June 2, 2026

That stat appears to take into consideration the quarterback play of all of the Giants quarterbacks–Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston, and Jaxson Dart–last season.

A Shift Toward Experience

Among the older more experienced receivers the Giants added is fan favorite Odell Beckham Jr. | Danielle Parhizkaran / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

A potential reason for the high percentage of receiver error involved in incompletions could be traced to the experience of the Giants receivers.

Last year, the Giants receiving targets–anyone who was targeted at least once, including wide receivers, tight ends and running backs–had an average of three years of NFL experience, with one-fifth of the targets being in their rookie season.

If we break that down to just wide receivers, the average rises to 3.4 years of experience with just two rookies (Beaux Collins and Dalen Cambre) in the mix.

Factor into the mix that Dart himself was a rookie who was still feeling his way in the NFL, and it’s little wonder why the Giants had their share of struggles.

Giants Have Changed Their Thinking

Wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster is another experienced receiver the Giants added. | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

We won’t know if this stat actually improves until after the season, but what the Giants have done is add far more experienced receiver targets to Dart’s arsenal.

Currently the average years experience of all their potential receiving targets is 4.6 years, with just two rookies among the lot.

Separating just the wide receivers and the average years of experience jumps up to 5.2 years.

Now obviously not every one of the running backs, tight ends, and wide receivers listed on the 90-man training camp roster are going to be on the other end of a Dart pass, but the approach to bring in more experience is an underrated and smart one.

Why? As Dart enters his second NFL season, he has already admitted that the new offensive system is different from what the team ran last year during his rookie season.

And while one can argue that all of the players are learning this new system together, often when one has a stable full of guys with experience who have seen different offenses and who can better and more quickly adjust in the heat of the moment, that usually means fewer receiver errors–and a higher completion percentage (plus confidence builders) for a still young quarterback.

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