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Dan Orlovsky's Giants QB Draft Prediction Leaves ESPN Hosts Stunned

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sean Deveney | Last updated Mar 10, 2025 9:18 AM ET

There's still plenty of time and, even as things are moving quickly on the NFL's free-agent market two days before the official opening of the league year, there are still plenty of names on the quarterback market. That's a good thing for the Giants, who jettisoned former starter Daniel Jones during last season, finished the year with Tommy DeVito at the helm, and have no real options to man the position in 2025.

But even with time and names, there is also concern. That's because, increasingly, the Giants are seemingly being left without a natural match among available NFL quarterbacks.

On ESPN's "Get Up" morning program on Monday, speculation had it that Steelers quarterback Justin Fields would wind up with the New York Jets as the team's new starter, with Aaron Rodgers replacing him in Pittsburgh. The top free-agent quarterback, Sam Darnold, would land in Seattle.

With the Falcons holding onto Kirk Cousins, the Giants (who are in talks with Rodgers, too) might then be down to only Russell Wilson as a realistic option to start in 2025.

Former NFL quarterback and now ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky then chimed in with an out-of-left field take on how those free-agent moves would affect the NFL draft, where the Titans, Browns and Giants are lined up for the first, second and third picks. All three need quarterbacks.

Orlovsky said: "If Aaron Rodgers goes to the Steelers, then we are likely to go 1-2-3 quarterbacks in the NFL draft at the end of April. And the Giants would have to take a quarterback at No. 3."

Host Mike Greenberg asked, incredulously: "And that would be Jaxson Dart?"

"Correct," Orlovsky said.

"There's no chance," Greenberg said, as fellow panelists Mike Tannenbaum and Tedy Bruschi chortled.

"Oh, there's a chance," Orlovsky said.

"We've just opened up Pandora's box," Greenberg responded.

Dart, who played at Ole Miss last season, very well may be the No. 3 quarterback taken in next month's draft behind Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, but he is a longshot to be a first-rounder in a draft in which some question whether Sanders should even be a first-rounder.

"This is an offense that can score with anybody."@DanOrlovsky7 loves Davante Adams signing with the Rams pic.twitter.com/STvqrDqMP5
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) March 10, 2025

Athlon's Luke Easterling projects Dart to be a second-round pick, going No. 36 overall. The Athletic, too, projects him as a second-rounder, at No. 34.

Dart is 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, and posted impressive numbers this year: His 4,729 yards, 29 touchdowns, and 329.2 yards per game led the SEC, and his 10.8 yards per attempt and 180.7 rating led the nation.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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