Giants QB Jaxson Dart Opens Up About Being in New York 

It takes a special kind of personality to enter the nation’s biggest media market and handle it with the grace and maturity of a 10-plus-year veteran player.

The New York Giants appear to have that person in quarterback Jaxson Dart, their first-round draft pick, whom they’re hoping develops into their franchise signal caller for the next decade or more.  

“It’s a privilege to be the quarterback for the Giants,” Dart told SI.com’s Gilberto Manzano in an exclusive sitdown. “I’m going to take it upon my shoulders to make sure that I handle it and approach it the right way, go out there and give it everything that I got.” 

The plan for Dart’s transformation from Ole Miss quarterback into Giants starting gunslinger has been carefully laid out by head coach Brian Daboll, who personally put the rookie through some rigorous mental testing regarding the Xs and Os during the pre-draft process.

Dart, who handled all that Daboll and the coaching staff threw at him, is expected to sit behind veterans Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston as he fine-tunes his mechanics and his footwork, and learns the little intricate details through film study that the pro game features that maybe the college game does not.

So far, so good.

“They’ve been great,” Dart said of his fellow veteran quarterbacks. “They were three of the first people to reach out to me when I got drafted, heard my name called.”

Dart has already revealed that he was a fan of Wilson growing up, dating back to his days with the Seahawks. Before the draft, he also named Winston his “dream teammate” to learn from.

The rookie has also been impressed and appreciative of Tommy DeVito, who, as a rookie, stepped into the starting lineup after the two guys in front of him were injured and performed well enough to record three wins as a starter.

“We have a special quarterback room,” he said.

That is a competitive one, but as far as Dart is concerned, that’s a good thing.

“Our sole focus, as a quarterback room, is to win games,” Dart said. “That’s why we come to work every single day. We want to win. So we all have the same focus, we have the same intent in what we’re doing and how we’re trying to handle it to make the team better.”

Unlike DeVito, who is going on Year 3 in the Giants' offensive system, Wilson, Winston, and Dart are all learning it from scratch, forming, with DeVito, a sort of study group from which the rookie can learn.  

“They’ve been great assets for me, giving me advice. I have a great corner with those guys, so I’m going to continue to lean on them,” Dart said.

You can also include Daboll in that small circle who is fully in Dart’s corner.  

“Coach [Daboll] is great. We formed such a strong connection throughout this combine time and just this whole offseason of draft prep. It’s been a privilege to play for him,” Dart said. 

“There’s not another coach I’d rather be playing for. Just his ability to develop quarterbacks and see the game as a whole. He’s coached every single position. He understands it through and through. I love his intensity, I love the way he coaches. This is where I wanted to be, so I’m grateful to be able to play under a coach like him.”

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