As the only two quarterbacks taken in the 2025 NFL Draft’s first round, the Tennessee Titans’ Cam Ward and the New York Giants’ Jaxson Dart will always find their careers intertwined.
Sunday served as a perfect reminder of just how different their NFL trajectories have taken them, with Ward — the No. 1 pick a year ago — struggling yet again in a home loss to the rebuilding Jets. Concerns are rapidly mounting about Ward’s viability as a franchise quarterback after he finished with fewer than 200 passing yards for the 10th time in 18 starts.
Meanwhile, Dart — who went No. 25 last April — threw three touchdowns and recorded 284 total yards (230 passing, 54 rushing) in a stunning upset of the NFC East rival Cowboys. Most importantly, the New York Giants’ offensive line kept him upright and far away from his seemingly regular concussion evaluation.
At this point, you can’t fault New York Giants fans for believing they’ve found a savior in Dart, though they may want to also write a formal “thank you” note to Seattle Seahawks quarterback Drew Lock.
Drew Lock is partly to thank for the New York Giants drafting Jaxson Dart
Giants fans watching last Wednesday’s Patriots-Seahawks opener likely recognized Lock’s name when he relieved an injured Sam Darnold. The 2019 second-round pick spent the 2024 season in New York, losing four of five starts down the stretch. He’d initially signed with the Giants on a one-year, $5 million deal to sit behind Daniel Jones.
As an X/Twitter user noted on Monday morning, Lock’s lone win came against the Indianapolis Colts on Dec. 29, 2024. That victory allowed the Tennessee Titans to secure the No. 1 pick, with the New York Giants falling to No. 3 behind the Cleveland Browns; the Cleveland Browns later traded that pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who took reigning Heisman Trophy winner and Colorado two-way standout Travis Hunter.
Had the New York Giants earned the top pick, common sense dictates that they’d have either traded down or selected Ward. However, the more realistic scenario would have involved the New York Giants drafting Ward, though whether they’d still have added Russell Wilson and/or Jameis Winston is an interesting conversation for another day.
Simply claiming that Ward would have been a bust in New York is lazy and entirely inaccurate. Such an argument really only works when discussing players with maturity and work ethic issues, such as JaMarcus Russell, because the landing spot likely wouldn’t have mattered in those instances.
Neither of those appears to be a problem with Ward, who turned heads on Sunday for once again slamming a tablet to the ground in frustration. At this point, it feels fair to say that Ward is the latest quarterback doomed by incompetent ownership and overall poor leadership. We repeatedly insisted throughout the offseason that the national media was giving Robert Saleh and Brian Daboll too much credit, and Week 1 certainly helped our case.
We’ll get our first look at a Ward-Dart matchup in Week 3, but we’d advise you against expecting a shootout. Given how well the Giants’ defense handled Dak Prescott and the Cowboys, we shudder to think how Ward will fare on the road.
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