No NFL team is walking into a more unforgiving wood chipper than the New York Giants in 2025. Let’s call it what it is—a savage schedule that borders on punishment. Ten games against playoff teams from last year. Road trips up, down, and around the country. Three primetime pressure cookers. And a roster still licking its wounds from a disastrous 2024. Welcome to the gauntlet.
It starts ugly and somehow gets worse. The Giants open with back-to-back division games on the road, get Patrick Mahomes on Sunday Night Football in Week 3, then run into the Los Angeles Chargers, New Orleans Saints, and Philadelphia Eagles—all before Week 7. The only thing more brutal than the opponents? The travel schedule. Eight of the first 13 games are away from home, and the team doesn’t even get a break until Week 14. That is absurd.
And here’s the kicker—that late bye week? It’s a nightmare for in-season adjustments. There’s no room to reset, no early breather to work in a rookie quarterback, and no convenient off-ramp for a struggling veteran. Which is exactly what makes the question of Jaxson Dart’s debut so tricky.
Could Jaxson Dart start after the Giants’ Week 14 bye?
Let’s be clear: Jaxson Dart is the future. The G-Men didn’t trade back into Round 1 just to stash him forever. But in 2025, the plan was always to let him marinate behind Russell Wilson, with Jameis Winston on deck in case of emergency. The problem is, in this schedule emergency might show up real quick.
If Wilson flames out early—and based on the back half of his Pittsburgh tape, that’s very possible—there will be calls for a change. But throwing Dart into the fire midseason, against a buzzsaw of playoff teams, is a recipe for disaster. The safer, more likely play is letting Jameis eat the middle stretch of the year if Wilson struggles, and circle Week 15 as the first realistic window for Dart.
That’s the first game after the insanely late bye. It’s against the Commanders at home—a divisional opponent, yes, but not exactly the 2000 Ravens. If the Giants are out of contention by then, it’s a low-risk environment to see what Dart’s got. Week 17 in Vegas could also be in play since they could be an easier opponent.
Make no mistake: if Dart starts before the bye, things have gone completely off the rails. Either that or he is way ahead of his presumed development timeline. His debut should be strategic, not desperate. And if the Giants want their future QB to succeed, they’d be smart to wait for the storm to pass.
The last thing this team can afford to do is put Dart in before he's ready. Not again.