The New York Giants quarterback room keeps getting more crowded, but not in a way most anticipated.
New York moved up to No. 25 in the first round of the NFL Draft on Thursday to select Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart, as Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders got left out of the first round. The Giants sent picks No. 34, No. 99, and a 2026 third-rounder to the Houston Texans in order to select Dart instead of Sanders.
Giants head coach Brian Daboll has ties with Ole Miss quarterbacks coach Charlie Weis Jr. and head coach Lane Kiffin. Daboll worked with Weis on the New England Patriots staff during Bill Belichick’s tenure, and Daboll followed Kiffin on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama.
Dart, who wasn’t widely considered a first-round pick nor ahead of Sanders, threw for 4,279 yards and 29 touchdowns plus 495 yards rushing and three touchdowns. The former Rebels star’s athleticism has led to Josh Allen comparisons, although Dart is three inches shorter, and Daboll notably worked with Allen as the Buffalo Bills’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2018 to 2021 before he took the Giants job.
“Yeah, I think he’s got a lot of qualities you look for in a good quarterback,” Daboll told reporters on Thursday. “He’s tough, makes good decisions with the football, pushes the ball down the field, has athletic ability, played in a really tough conference, started there at USC as a young guy. But did a really good job throughout this process of our meetings, board work, workouts, and the tape that we liked.”
Giants general manager Joe Schoen said they’re “fired up to get him” after “an extensive quarterback process” before the draft. That included looking at Sanders, who shined at Colorado with 4,134 yards passing and 37 passing touchdowns plus four rushing touchdowns in 2024.
“It started as far back as last May in terms of evaluating the quarterbacks, and Dabs and I have been through this quite a few times, and at the end of the day we’re fired up to have Jaxson Dart as part of the organization and look forward to working with him,” Schoen told reporters.
Schoen also stood by the organization’s decision to draft Dart instead of Sanders. Daboll likewise emphasized that there were “a select number of people who have studied the players” in deciding whom to draft.
“But at the end of the day, when we went through the process and we ranked them, this is how we had them ranked, and Jaxson, we felt the value matched up with where we saw the player,” Schoen said.
Dart joins a quarterback room that already has veterans Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston, who both signed this offseason. That bodes well for Dart, as Schoen sees it.
“He’s got a lot of makings of a good quarterback, and there’s a long way to go,” Schoen said.
“There’s a developmental process that he’s going to have to go through. Again, these offenses are not easy to learn, and the execution has to be at a high level.
“We took three swings since the combine and added three new quarterbacks to the room, and I’m excited about the makeup of the room, too.”
Dart said he received constant communication from Daboll via text before the draft but that it “kind of died off” within a couple of weeks of the draft. The former Ole Miss star, who could follow in the footsteps of former Rebels and Giants star Eli Manning, said it seemed uncertain for a time.
“Coach [Daboll], it was a super easy connection, I felt like, from just a personality standpoint. I felt like his competitive edge just really fits kind of how I approach everything.”
“Obviously going into this process and then at the same time watching Josh’s success from afar, I got to see that just as a football fan. I think that anytime you see success like that, and just as a competitor, as a quarterback, you really appreciate that from a coach. You definitely want to be coached by somebody just like that.”
As for following in Manning’s footsteps again, it doesn’t faze Dart, who is also familiar with the Manning family. Eli Manning helped the Giants win Super Bowls in 2008 and 2012, and he is considered a serious Hall of Fame candidate, though he didn’t make the cut for the 2025 class.
“It’s wild to think about. They were just such an amazing asset for me when I was at Ole Miss,” Dart said. “Obviously going down to the Manning Passing Academy and spending more time with them there, and then Archie just being consistent with texting me, and he made sure to give me a ‘good luck’ today, and then Eli, I couldn’t ask for a better resource than that.”
“I’m going to continue to lean on them a little bit, and I couldn’t be more blessed to have them in my corner.”
