A new breakdown of each NFL team's worst case scenario for Week 1 involves Giatns rookie QB Jaxson Dart. John Jones-Imagn Images

This Scenario Could Be Giants’ Worst Nightmare, Claims NFL Analyst

Originally posted on New York Giants on SI
By Patricia Traina | Last updated Jun 5, 2025 8:00 AM ET

The upcoming 2025 NFL season is a tricky one for the New York Giants brass, who must strike a balance between showing team ownership that the roster is better in Week 18 than it was in Week 1, yet also trying to get ready for the eventual Jaxson Dart era at quarterback.

And according to Brag Gagnon of Bleacher Report, the Giants’ worst nightmare could be realized if it turns out the Giants start the clock on the Dart era as soon as Week 1 because they had to.

“Because this is still a rebuild and there is limited pressure on either quarterback as a result, it would take major injuries to both Russell Wilson and Jaxson Dart for 2025 to be a nightmare here,” Gagnon wrote in his description of every NFL team’s nightmare.

Talk about dramatic, right? But seriously, Gagnon’s concern could be valid if in the estimation of head coach Brian Daboll, Dart isn’t ready to assume leadership of the offense by Week 1 or whatever week for that matter he’d have to play should injury befall both Wilson and Winston.

Or would it?

While Daboll has claimed over and over that the coaches have a very detailed plan for bringing Dart up to speed in running an NFL offense, there is only so much the rookie is going to learn via “mental reps.”

Experience, you see, is the best teacher, and always has been. For a quarterback, that’s especially true. In practice scenarios, quarterbacks are protected from being hit by a pass rush, a practice that can sometimes give a quarterback the illusion that he actually has more time to complete a pass than he really does.

Also in practice, it’s impossible for a team to simulate the speed of a live game even if the practice is run at up-tempo.

In short, there’s no substitution for live reps, particularly for a quarterback. But he has to be ready to take them, and that readiness shows up not just on the practice field but in the classroom where the signal caller needs to show a strong grasp of what he has to do on any given play.

All this is a way of saying that Dart, who is said to have a strong football IQ, could, given the accelerated plan that he seems to be on this summer which will presumably include preseason snaps, could realistically be further along by Week 1 to where if the unthinkable were to happen and both Winston and Wilson were unable to play, Dart could be ready to at least run part of the playbook.

Then again, if both Wilson and Winston were both unable to physically perform by Week 1, it’s a safe bet that the Giants would sign a veteran or two–perhaps even one who had prior experience in Brian Daboll’s offense–just in case Dart wasn’t close to being ready.

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