Jaxson Dart's 'aura' could force Giants into early Russell Wilson decision

Rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart gave New York Giants fans reasons to be optimistic about the team's future via his first two preseason outings in August. 

It sounds like Dart is also quickly becoming a favorite among his teammates. 

"I was kind of intrigued by Dart when he was at Ole Miss," Giants offensive tackle Jermaine Eluemunor explained while speaking with reporters on Monday, as shared by Dan Benton of Giants Wire/USA Today. "I wanted to see what he could do. He had like a certain aura about him. It kind of made me want to watch him play, and the games I did see him play, it was just phenomenal reps. He's a tough guy. Sometimes he has to take hits when he's running down field, but he gets back up and gets all hyped up and as an offensive lineman, you build off that when you see your quarterback running down field and taking a hit and getting back up and acting like it wasn’t really anything when you know he probably felt it." 

Dart put on quite a show in the Giants' 31-12 preseason win over the New York Jets this past Saturday when he rushed for a touchdown and completed 14-of-16 passing attempts for 137 yards with a score. Per Jordan Raanan of ESPN, the 2025 first-round draft pick connected on a combined 26-of-35 passes for 291 yards with two touchdowns over the Giants' first two exhibition contests. 

"I think he’s going to be really good for this team and just the progress he’s made throughout the offseason and from (organized team activities) to minicamp to training camp, you can see his progression," Eluemunor continued during his comments about Dart, according to Tom Rock of Newsday. "You can also see the way he’s catching up with the speed of the game because from college to the NFL, the speed is a huge jump. He’s starting to catch up fairly quickly, which is really cool to see. Some of the throws he makes, you’re just like, '[Expletive], this is going to be a good kid.'" 

Giants head coach Brian Daboll has repeatedly insisted since the opening night of the draft that veteran Russell Wilson is the club's Week 1 starting quarterback. Most recently, Daboll said after Saturday's victory that "Russ is our starter and we're going to keep developing Jaxson." Nevertheless, there's no denying that the Dart hype train has picked up plenty of momentum over the past couple of weeks. 

For an article published on Monday, NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated wrote that Dart "is shortening the leash on Wilson, should the veteran struggle when the season gets going." Specifically, it's thought Daboll could turn to Dart for the Giants' home opener against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 21 if Big Blue is 0-2 ahead of that "Sunday Night Football" matchup. 

The Giants open the campaign with road games at the Washington Commanders and the Dallas Cowboys. 

"The quarterback is the most important position on the field," Eluemunor added during his comments. "That’s the commander-in-chief. You're going to go as far as your quarterback takes you, and Jaxson just has this thing about him where you just want to play hard for him, and you want to see him be successful, and you want to do everything you can to make sure he's successful as an offensive lineman. It's really cool to see that. I haven't been around many of those guys."