Brian Daboll Gives Update on NY Giants QB Jaxson Dart's Development

If the New York Giants truly consider rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart as their future, then the future does indeed look very bright for the franchise and the offense in particular.

Dart, whom the team traded up to get in the first round of this year’s draft, has been steadily improving under a plan that head coach Brian Daboll, entrusted to develop the rookie, has laid out. 

Daboll and the rest of the coaching staff have been reluctant to share any meaty details about what that plan entails, perhaps concerned about questions about the timing of milestones, such as when the rookie, currently third on the depth chart, might move up to second, but there have been little hints along the way during the spring OTAs and mandatory minicamp.

The most noticeable one is where Dart has taken his team reps. Most of those have come with the second-team offense, but he’s also done some work with the first-team and third-team, the idea being to see how he adapts to throwing to different receivers with whom he has varying rapports.  

Another tactic Daboll is using is springing the unexpected on the rookie to test his preparedness, as things rarely go according to the script, and quarterbacks, in particular backups, must be on their toes at all times. The goal, Daboll said, is to expose Dart to as many scenarios as possible.

So far, so good.

“He has done excellent. He's picking up the information,” Daboll said before the team’s first practice of their mandatory minicamp. 

“He's smart. He's aggressive with the football, which I like. The true test will be once we start, with live hitting and preseason games and things like that. But he's progressed since he's been here to where he is now. He's made good improvement.” 

Quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney agreed.

"It's been impressive to see the last couple weeks just how he's prepared and made the transition to becoming a pro," Tierney said. 

"We thought that about him, which is one of the reasons why we liked him. But he's done a really good job of coming in here and understanding what he's got to do to make himself a pro and approaching it the right way."

Dart is experiencing more peaks than valleys

For as good as Dart has looked this spring, there are still reminders in every practice that he’s still a rookie who’s cutting his teeth. There are occasional instances of holding the ball too long, failing to set his feet before throwing when he has to move around in the pocket, struggling to avoid sacks and a lack of consistent touch on shorter passes.

But it’s all part of the growing pains, according to Daboll, and part of Dart absorbing as much coaching as possible to tweak his game ahead of eventually taking over the offense. 

“He falls back naturally on the fundamentals of how he throws the football. Are there little tweaks you can make? Sure, there are little tweaks,” Daboll said. 

“You coach them technique-wise in individual drills and coach them throughout the practice of movement in the pocket or taking too much or turning it loose when you can turn it loose or avoiding a sack. 

“You understand that there's going to be a lot of things to teach off of for these young guys. You can give him a lot. He can absorb a lot, and then he knows kind of what to weed out and then what to focus on the next day. So, he's been good.”   

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