EAST RUTHERFORD – Brian Daboll was texting with Jaxson Dart incessantly, engaging the player the New York Giants selected as their quarterback of the future for weeks during the pre-draft evaluation process.
Because of their interactions, the Ole Miss star was gaining confidence in just how much Daboll respected his game, loved his intangibles and seemed to mesh with his personality and how he could reach new heights in the NFL.
So Dart let himself believe in what ultimately became reality: he was going to be a Giant.
Truth is: he did not know for certain. And then the guy he wanted as his next head coach essentially ghosted him. The communication just stopped, and there was really no explanation. Just part of the dance, Dart tried to convince himself, and he was eventually proven correct.
That was harder to do when the Giants hit the road for private workouts with three other quarterback prospects – Shedeur Sanders, Jalen Milroe and Tyler Shough – in a four-day trek from Colorado to Alabama and Louisville.
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Dart had already met with the Giants here and worked out for them on campus in Oxford. All he could do was wait.
“It’s almost kind of like the early stages of dating, I would say,” Dart relayed with a chuckle when asked by NorthJersey.com and The Record how he dealt with the uncertainty of the process late Thursday night. “You go on dates with different people and that’s what Coach Daboll was doing, and I felt confident in the relationship that we had. So – yeah, I saw all of [the Giants’ interest in other quarterbacks]. But at the same time, I just felt confident in the preparation that I had for my meetings with them, how I did at the combine, how I did – really just my tape throughout my career, and then all the meetings that we had.”
Dart paused before adding: “I felt like I gave it all that I got.”
As fate would have it, Daboll and the Giants loved their match with Dart. He had all the traits for which they were looking in a quarterback who could one day lead the franchise – toughness, smarts, athleticism, aggressiveness, leadership and a fire that burns in everything he does – and when general manager Joe Schoen finalized the trade with the Houston Texans, the marriage became official with the 25th pick of the NFL Draft.
“As a competitor, you want to play on the biggest stages,” Dart said. “You want to play in front of the most passionate fans, most world-renowned program and organization. That’s just kind of what I wanted to be a part of. I felt like my process of getting to this moment, I just feel like I’m built for it.”
Two months earlier at the NFL Scouting Combine, Schoen was brutally honest about where the Giants stood at quarterback. They desperately needed one for the long-term. For the present, they needed more than one, and Schoen made that clear.
What Schoen also insisted: anybody picked to play quarterback in New York has to be made for it – built for it, so to speak, as Dart suggested. There’s a lot that comes with being the face of the franchise in the Big Apple, and given the circumstances that have dragged this organization for more than a decade – there are also those four Vince Lombardi trophies in the lobby of their building that represent what the standard should be – the pressure is real.
The question for Dart was a simple one: does he think his personality plays in New York?
“No doubt,” Dart quipped emphatically.
“We try to gauge that as well as we can, and that’s a difficult question that none of us really know until you get here and understand what the New York market is, and what it’s like playing in that market,” Schoen said. “Again, his resilience, he’s tough, he’s competitive, takes hits, gets back up, he’s running people over. Just the makeup of the kid and the way he’s wired, he’s going to keep getting up and competing.”
Dart has a relationship with Archie and Eli Manning, which means a lot to him, them and the Giants. How could it not, and yes, it’s a cool Ole Miss story with three quarterbacks at the school and their intertwined legacies.
But anyone who tries to paint the 21-year-old Dart as Eli Manning 3.0 is mistaken – they could not be more different both from a personality and playing perspective. The Giants tried finding Eli 2.0 and it didn’t work with Daniel Jones, unfortunately, so turn the page on that book and put the focus on what Dart brings to the table.
Dart plays recklessly at times, leading to inconsistency that must improve at the next level. He mixes it up and runs hot at times with opponents and teammates alike, demanding the best not only from himself, but others.
“He needs time to develop his progression-based reads and anticipation, but he is a natural thrower of the football with promising mobility and high-level competitive intangibles,” The Athletic draft analyst Dane Brugler told NorthJersey.com and The Record. “If a team allows to develop at his own pace, he offers NFL starting upside in the right situation.”
Daboll is the head coach of the Giants in part because of the role he played as the trusted voice and mentor in the maturation of current NFL MVP Josh Allen. There is no question he sees traits in the 6-foot-2, 225-pound Dart that they coveted in Allen, who he helped learn and develop in the journey to becoming who he is now.
This is Daboll’s chance to show his worth beyond the wins and losses that ultimately will define his tenure.
“[Dart’s] expectations coming in: just to improve every day, soak it up like a sponge, learn from the coaches, learn from the veteran quarterbacks in the room, try to improve every day he can in terms of his understanding of the system,” Daboll said. “And then once we get on the field, the physical part of it, that’s what we’re looking for from him right now is to grow each and every day with a positive mindset, and I think he has the tools physically and mentally to do that.”
The Giants are convinced Dart can make it here. It’s not anywhere, and not for everyone. Daboll said Thursday night that Russell Wilson is the starter and Jameis Winston the likely backup with Dart facing a learning curve as a rookie that will test his mettle, not to mention the Giants’ patience if the season begs for a QB change sooner than anticipated.
“I just feel like I got an edge to me,” Dart said. “I feel like everybody in the city does as well.”
Now it’s time for Dart, Daboll and the rest of the Giants to prove it.
Because if they do, this will represent the most significant step forward for the franchise since another quarterback from Ole Miss walked into the building with big city-sized expectations.
