Giants Announce Starting Quarterback After First-Round Trade

The New York Giants made a series of unsurprising decisions on Thursday night.

As basically every report indicated in the days before the 2025 NFL Draft, the Giants took Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter with the No. 3 pick. Then, they found a potential long-term answer at quarterback in Mississippi’s Jaxson Dart.

Making a quarterback their second selection shocked nobody, although New York did trade up with the Houston Texans, trading back into the first round for his services.

The trade is inherently polarizing. It was a pivot from the consensus, as Dart wasn’t necessarily the next-best passer available. Fans were split, and a first-round commitment means that Dart will get multiple chances to make it work.

That first chance won’t come in Week 1.

After the pick, the Giants made a major announcement regarding their starter under center.

“Russ will be our starter,” head coach Brian Daboll said, via Charlotte Carroll.

Once again, New York ceases to shock the world. The Giants brought in Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston in March for the sole purpose of starting over a rookie. Dart was never going to be the favorite to be under center in Week 1.

"He can come in, sit behind a couple veteran quarterbacks and learn," Daboll said, via Sports Illustrated.

Wilson and Winston have over two decades of NFL experience between them, having seen Super Bowls, adversity, and – in Winston’s case – the expectations of being a first-round quarterback. That should be invaluable to Dart, who is viewed as a project by most analysts.

It’ll be a redshirt rookie season for Dart, barring the season going south in a hurry and both quarterbacks going down in some capacity.

Notably, Connor Hughes’ pre-draft reporting suggested that Dart was Daboll’s quarterback of choice, a pivot from the Shedeur Sanders marriage that the media collectively projected for the better part of the draft cycle. Sanders was not picked in Round 1.

New York traded Nos. 34 and 99, along with a 2026 third-round pick, for No. 25, where it found its quarterback. He’ll hope to make an impact and save Daboll’s job in the process.