Jaxson Dart is doing New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll no favors. In what was presumed to be an easy plan to follow, Daboll's firm stance on Russell Wilson being QB1 might get called into question sooner than he'd likely hoped.
The fourth-year HC immediately named Wilson the starter after the team traded back into the first round to select Dart. He echoed the same stance on Day 1 of training camp. The rookie was supposed to sit back, take time to develop and learn from the veteran signal-caller, and not be forced into playing time before he was ready. Crazy how quickly things can change.
It's only training camp, and Dart still has a lot of room to grow, but he is starting to look really, really good out there. During Monday's practice, the 22-year-old looked well beyond his years with a jaw-dropping play. With the pocket collapsing, the rookie escaped, kept his eyes downfield the entire time, and threw a cross-bodied dot right into the arms of Lil'Jordan Humphrey:
Jaxson Dart escapes the pocket and completes a throw pic.twitter.com/MuwY4FRHdI
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) August 4, 2025
Jaxson Dart is going to force some uncomfortable QB conversations
So now the conversation shifts. Dart’s still QB2, but the leash on Wilson isn’t as long as it looked two weeks ago. Two pick-sixes in back-to-back practices will do that. So will red zone inefficiency, holding onto the ball too long, and four-plus years of proof that he's no longer who he used to be. Wilson hasn’t been bad, but he’s been exactly what they signed up for... and not much more.
That wouldn’t be a problem if Dart weren’t making things interesting. But he is. He’s responding to rough practices with immediate bounce-back sessions. He’s getting sharper with his reads. And he’s showing flashes, like real, repeatable flashes, of the stuff that gets you benched if you’re the guy in front of him. Not a great situation for the Russ Bus.
The coaching staff might not want to call it a competition, but that’s exactly what this thing is turning into.
Related: Brian Daboll just hinted Jaxson Dart might be way ahead of schedule
We’ll learn a lot more once the preseason starts. Dart’s expected to get extended looks in Buffalo, and if he strings together another day like Monday, the "start Dart" crowd will only grow louder. Wilson probably isn’t playing — though Daboll wouldn’t commit — so the only thing fans will care about is whether Dart made his case to be QB1.
Ten practices ago, there was no conversation. Dart wasn’t supposed to be this electric this early. He wasn't supposed to matter. Maybe he still doesn’t... at least not publicly. The G-Men don’t have to rush anything, and Daboll doesn’t need to walk back a single word. If Dart keeps making plays like this, that decision’s going to show up fast. Whether they’re ready for him or not.