Patrick Mahomes blueprint goes up in smoke as Giants turn to Jaxson Dart

Well, there goes that plan.

In the lead-up to last Sunday's game between the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Giants, several stories came out comparing New York's strategy for developing Dart to how Kansas City operated when sitting Patrick Mahomes behind Alex Smith for the majority of his rookie season.

So much for that.

On Tuesday, Giants head coach Brian Daboll announced Dart would start in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Chargers (3-0), benching veteran Russell Wilson after a mediocre start to the season.

It was a bit foolish to think the Giants (0-3) could have replicated the Chiefs' success simply by sitting Dart, although it helped the comps that Dart and Mahomes, a two-time MVP and three-time Super Bowl winner, share a connection with Mike Kafka, the Giants offensive coordinator who was elevated to quarterbacks coach by the Chiefs in 2018, Mahomes' first full season as an NFL starter.

In a New York Post interview, Dart discussed conversations with Kafka during the pre-draft process about his work with Mahomes, citing the importance of not rushing into a starting role.

"Those are things that I've been discussing with [Kafka] since the first time I ever met him," Dart said.

"He did a great job with that, and I think he saw — and I think Pat would say it, too — having a big jump from having that time to learn," he added.

In a separate interview, Dart offered an endorsement of the long-game approach, saying, "It's fun because I'm able to take time to watch those other quarterbacks around the league and kind of see the things that they do at a really high level." (h/t ESPN)

ESPN's Jordan Ranaan shared additional stats that show why it might be preferable to let a quarterback sit instead of rushed into a starting role, noting that 18 of the 25 Super Bowl winners this century featured starting quarterbacks who didn't play early in their careers. Since 2000, Joe Flacco, Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Matthew Stafford and Russell Wilson are the only quarterbacks to start in the first four weeks of their rookie season and later go on to a win a Lombardi Trophy. Three others — Joe Burrow, Cam Newton and Matt Ryan — came close, each losing in the Super Bowl.

When the Giants mentioned taking a Mahomes-esque approach to Dart's growth, that seemingly precluded a start as early as Week 4. Yet that's where we are. While it demonstrates a concerning lack of conviction in the original plan, it also allows Dart to chart his own path and stop facing comparisons to one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Some might say that's a win.

But with the strategy changing, it's imperative for Kafka, who calls plays for New York, to build a game plan around Dart's strengths. The Giants offensive coordinator may have made a name for himself as Mahomes quarterbacks coach, and if he can develop Dart to be even half as good, that might be his crowning achievement.