Sticks and stones may break Jaxson Dart’s bones, but names can never hurt him. And apparently, the name the New York Giants’ second-year quarterback will have to live with heading into 2026 is “game manager.”
FanSided recently asked 50 NFL experts to rank all 93 quarterbacks currently hanging around the league, grading each one on a 12-point scale based on expectations for the upcoming season. Dart landed at No. 24 overall with a 7.34 rating, putting him firmly in the “Game Manager” tier.
I can already hear Giants fans collectively cracking their knuckles and getting ready to type.
Dart entered his rookie season as a supposed developmental project and finished it much further along than anyone could’ve reasonably expected. He did it without much help around him, either, especially after Malik Nabers tore his ACL in Week 4 and Cam Skattebo went down for the year just four weeks later.
So seeing “Game Manager” slapped next to his name isn't exactly going to have people running through the streets of North Jersey in celebration. But maybe it should.
Because if “game manager” is where Dart lands in Year 2, new head coach John Harbaugh and Co. could be in pretty good shape. Just ask former No. 1 overall pick and three-time Pro Bowler Alex Smith.
Jaxson Dart could become Giants’ version of Alex Smith
Smith spent a good chunk of his 16-year career fighting the same label. The former No. 1 overall pick was never expected to light up the stat sheet every Sunday. He took care of the football and did what was asked of him, winning a whole lot of games along the way.
And his career numbers are nothing to scoff at.
Smith finished with 35,650 passing yards, 199 touchdowns, 109 interceptions, a 62.6% completion percentage, three Pro Bowl nods, and a 99-67-1 record as a starter.
He was especially good once he got to Kansas City, going 50-26 across five seasons while throwing 102 touchdowns against just 33 interceptions.
Even his 2-5 playoff record doesn’t tell the whole story. Smith threw 14 touchdowns against just two interceptions across those seven starts, averaged 249.3 passing yards per game, and finished with a 97.4 passer rating. In Kansas City’s 2013 Wild Card loss to Indianapolis, he threw for 378 yards and four touchdowns without turning the ball over once... and the Chiefs still lost.
Turns out even a really good game manager needs everyone else to hold up their end of the bargain.
His final season with the Chiefs might be the best example of how misleading the mark can be. Smith threw for a career-high 4,042 yards and 26 touchdowns with only five interceptions in 2017, completed 67.5% of his passes, and finished with a 104.7 passer rating. That's pretty freaking good for just a “game manager.”
Then some guy named Patrick Mahomes showed up and made a 4,000-yard Pro Bowl season look like grounds for replacement. There are worse blueprints for Dart to follow.
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