The best part about the Giants taking Jaxson Dart in last month's NFL Draft is that, as things stand currently, no one knows how it's going to go. That may seem daunting, but given how the Giants' QB routine has gone for the last half-decade, just the inherent hope of 'not Daniel Jones' is good enough to stay optimistic throughout the summer.
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On one hand, they took Dart high enough to expect him to make (at least one) start this season. It's not Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston, or (world's largest sigh) Tommy DeVito should really stand in Dart's way for too long. On the other hand, if Dart's making starts before October, things probably aren't going great.
That is, in theory, a problem for October – unless you're CBS Sports, who apparently decided it's a problem for RIGHT NOW. In their latest list of arbitrary predictions and projections, CBS Sports took a crack at guessing what Dart's best- and worst-cast scenario stat lines this year could be. They are, in a word, bleak.
CBS Sports' worst case scenario for Jaxson Dart is awfully bleak
Worst-case scenario: 59% completion, 6.2 yards per attempt, 1,820 passing yards, 8 TD passes, 10 INTs, 36 sacks, 69.9 rating
Basing these Dart projections on 350 attempts, simply because I'd be reasonably surprised if he's the Week 1 starter and/or ultimately plays a full 17-game regular season schedule as a rookie, especially given the maturation process ahead of him going from Ole Miss' offense to Brian Daboll's. Dart is a talented thrower with plus athleticism on his side, which is part of the reason why his best-case scenario sack total is somewhat low. Also, the Giants have slowly but surely built a quality skill-position group on offense and the blocking should be improved, so if everything aligns for the first-rounder, a spectacular season with a rating in the low 90s isn't out of the question. There's a wider range for Dart than Ward, simply due to the gimmicky nature of what Dart was accustomed to in college.
Don't love it! And here's their 'best case' scenario, because I'm nothing if not fair in these silly little blogs about silly little predictions:
65% completion, 7.2 yards per attempt, 2,520 passing yards, 16 TD passes, 7 INTs, 28 sacks, 93.2 rating.
That's still, uh, not great. Not a lot of love for the Giants' offensive line from CBS Sports, huh? It could be worse – at least they spared us from a Russell Wilson projection.