What do Jaxson Dart, Justin Fields, and Mitch Trubisky all have in common? They will have -- or have had -- Matt Nagy in charge of offensive play-calling duties during their formative years as quarterbacks.
On Tuesday morning, it was announced that John Harbaugh had hired the former Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator for the same role with the New York Giants. After weeks of wondering, projecting, and sussing out clues, the Nagy news was... uninspiring. Not objectively bad. Not great... just underwhelming.
There seemed to be better options out there, but I'm not one to go toe-to-toe with a future Hall of Fame coach's decisions. In Harbaugh, we trust.
Unfortunately for Justin Fields and Mitch Trubisky, the Nagy experiment didn’t end well. Their time is all but up as starters in this league, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth for Big Blue’s hopeful franchise quarterback.
There's no way Harbaugh doesn't know that his new OC didn't fare particularly well with developing his two young QBs while he was the Bears' HC back in 2018-21. So why put the development of his 22-year-old in the hands of the guy who couldn't get it done before? It's simple -- he's saying the quiet part out loud: Harbaugh believes Dart is a better quarterback than both of them.
He wouldn't have hired Nagy otherwise.
John Harbaugh made his Jaxson Dart belief crystal clear with Matt Nagy hire
While I've ignored mentioning Patrick Mahomes to this point, it's time I introduce him to help bolster my point. The 47-year-old worked with rookie Mahomes in both of their first seasons in the "big leagues" back in 2017. It was Nagy's first NFL coordinator job, and obviously Mahomes' first year in the NFL.
Well, if the OC is such a cancer, how come the second-coming of Tom Brady wasn't phased by his ineptitude? Could it be because Fields and Trubisky are who they are, and Mahomes was just destined to be better than them because he is? It feels like that's where it's trending. And maybe Harbs knows in his heart of hearts that he's got something good in East Rutherford.
Related: Giants fans should feel alarmed after instant Matt Nagy damage control
The comparison in the table below won't exactly be apples to apples, but it'll give you a sense of where each player was at after their rookie season. This is a table of Dart, Fields, and Trubisky and their rookie season numbers to show just how far ahead the former Ole Miss standout really is:
Rookie SZN stats | Jaxson Dart | Justin Fields | Mitch Trubisky |
|---|---|---|---|
Overall record | 4-8 | 2-8 | 4-8 |
Passing yards | 2,272 | 1,870 | 2,193 |
Passing TDs | 15 | 7 | 7 |
Completion % | 63.7 | 58.9 | 59.4 |
Total QBR | 57.6 | 31.4 | 33.3 |
Rushing yards | 487 | 420 | 248 |
Rushing TDs | 9 | 2 | 2 |
Total turnovers | 7 | 15 | 10 |
Is it just me, or are my eyes telling me that Dart had a significantly better rookie season than both of them? Not my quarterback.
Nagy is not a flashy hire by any means. But what he is is a high-floor coach who has extensive experience on the offensive side of the ball. Bringing in a he-is-who-he-is OC allows Harby to explore more creative routes to fill out the vacant quarterbacks coach/pass game coordinator roles for his electric young signal-caller.
Harby didn’t hire Nagy to fix Six. He just knows his QB is already better than the guys the OC couldn’t figure out in Chicago (the numbers prove it), and talented enough to make the relationship work anyway. Believe in the kid. Believe in Harbaugh. Believe in the vision.