Yesterday, we learned that it’s time to save Brian Daboll’s job 22-year-old Jaxson Dart is ready!

Inside: We’re covering the Giants’ latest starting quarterback, The Athletic’s NFL front office rankings and Mike Sando on Russell Wilson’s legacy.

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Jaxson Dart era: So it begins … 

He was supposed to sit for a redshirt year. Adapt to life as an NFL quarterback in New York, learn the playbook and improve on what he had lacked in college (progression-based reads and playing with anticipation, according to our draft guru Dane Brugler).

But after an 0-3 start, forget it. How did we get here? The Athletic’s Giants beat reporter, Charlotte Carroll, shared a full timeline. As she wrote in the story on the change itself:

💬 Charlotte: “The actual decision to move to Dart came in somewhat bizarre fashion, as Giants coach Daboll said Monday afternoon the team was ‘evaluating everything,’ when asked if Wilson would still be the team’s starter in Week 4.

“By the time Daboll typically speaks with reporters the day after games, he’s usually committed to his QB decisions, but that wasn’t the case Monday. Dart’s promotion came Tuesday afternoon.”

The 6-2, 223-pounder’s impressive preseason certainly gave Daboll confidence. Across three games, the 25th overall pick in April’s draft completed 32-of-47 passes (68 percent) for 372 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions.

In the preseason, his 88.5 PFF passing grade ranked No. 4, behind only Patrick Mahomes, Brock Purdy and six-year vet Jarrett Stidham. And though most of Dart’s snaps came against backups, he was without Malik Nabers on throws like this one (our fantasy experts tell me Nabers will benefit from Dart’s arrival).

The temptation to promote Dart likely grew unbearable in Week 3. Boos rained down on Russell Wilson after the 36-year-old threw a fourth-down pass out of the end zone, seemingly preferring to protect his stat line rather than give his receivers a chance.

Is Dart truly ready?

This obviously feels like a knee-jerk reaction to save jobs in New York, something that rarely works in the NFL.

“If you kind of look at the history of football, it hasn’t always served people well to just throw people in the fire,” receiver and team captain Darius Slayton said two weeks ago. “We believe [Dart is] a good football player, but at the same time, this league is hard, this league is tough, and you see players get chewed up and spit out all the time.”

But don’t mistake this as a death sentence for Dart’s career. Seven of the top 10 passers in Mike Sando’s 2025 QB Tiers had started by the middle of their rookie years, and for teams not much better than these Giants, like Matthew Stafford with the 2009 Lions or Joe Burrow with the 2020 Bengals.

The Bills originally had a similarly patient plan for Josh Allen’s rookie season, but “let him sit and develop” lasted less than a week.The Bills, with Daboll as offensive coordinator, inserted the rookie Allen in the second half of their Week 1 matchup, a 47-3 blowout loss to the Ravens, and he’s remained their starter since. It worked, though Allen deserves most of the credit.

Is Dart the next Allen? Impossible to say, of course, but the desperate Giants believe Dart gives them the best chance to win games. They also need to see if the rookie can show the same promise as Allen did in 2018, especially since New York’s 2026 first-round pick might be in the top five.

It’s not the worst play, though I wish they’d prepped the 22-year-old more, as Dart “has barely worked with the first-team offense in practice,” wrote Dan Duggan, The Athletic’s Giants beat reporter.

Why now?

Maybe wait until after the Week 4 matchup against the Chargers’ elite defense? Those guys just beat future Hall of Famer Patrick Mahomes in Week 1 and intercepted 12-year veteran Geno Smith three times in Week 2, after all.

💬 Dan: “It’s not as if the Giants can only play Dart against the bad defenses. Eli Manning survived a 0 quarterback rating against the vaunted Ravens defense during his rookie season. If Dart has the intangibles the Giants believe he possesses, he’ll overcome whatever adversity he faces this season. There are no soft landing spots in the NFL.”

Most importantly, Dart should have better protection than Wilson was afforded, as the latter saw 48 pressures in three weeks, seventh-most in the NFL.

💬 Charlotte: “Fortunately for Dart, it looks like he’ll have a healthy Andrew Thomas protecting his blindside, as the star left tackle returned Sunday night to play 25 snaps. He exited the game feeling ‘just fine,’ according to Daboll.”

Reminder: The Giants are 3-17 in the last 20 games Thomas has missed, and since 2022, they are 15-17-1 with him on the field. Thomas’ 84.4 pass-blocking grade in Week 3 is a positive sign for Dart, and the oft-injured left tackle is arguably the second-most important player in New York.

What’s next for Dart?

Daboll had a reputation as a quarterback guru, based on his work in Buffalo. Can he recreate the magic with Dart? The coach has just bet his job on it.

Expect more zone-reads and run-pass option plays, as well as a faster-paced Giants offense, similar to Dart’s high-tempo offense at Ole Miss. Dart doesn’t have the moonball of Wilson, but showed consistent improvement with his deep passing (a few were dropped) in the preseason, and his mobility should help open up the Giants’ playbook.

Unfortunately for both coach and quarterback, outside of a Week 5 game in New Orleans, I’m not sure New York wins another game before December.

Over to Mike Sando for a moment.

Mike Sando’s Pick: The legacy of Wilson

Russell Wilson, Hall of Famer? That question was looking more like an exclamation point five years ago, but without question, Wilson’s legacy has taken major hits since leaving Seattle for ill-fated stops with Denver, Pittsburgh and, now, the Giants.

As a Hall of Fame selector, I think Wilson’s candidacy will benefit from the passage of time. The past several seasons should factor to the extent it’s relevant that Wilson never succeeded outside the framework Pete Carroll built for him in Seattle, but it should not disproportionately define his legacy, either.

With that in mind, it’s helpful to compare Wilson’s run with Seattle to the primary runs for three other dual-threat quarterbacks already enshrined in Canton.

Steve Young’s 1991-99 starting run with the 49ers, Fran Tarkenton’s second run with the Vikings (1972-78) and Roger Staubach’s starting run with the Cowboys (1971-79) are particularly relevant because, like Wilson, all three were highly efficient winners on teams with elite coaches and elite defenses.

I’ll put in much more work on Wilson’s candidacy once he retires and we get into the five-year waiting period before he’s eligible for Hall of Fame consideration. Today, I’ll leave you with the table below, comparing those relevant QB starting runs.

2025 front office rankings

What is success for an NFL general manager? Since only one of 32 can win a Lombardi each season, that’s not a fair measuring stick. It shouldn’t be limited to offseason moves during free agency or the draft either, since what looks like a “dream team” could just resemble 2011’s acquisitions-heavy Eagles going 8-8.

Given the league’s success in achieving parity for seemingly everyone but the Jets, the most useful barometer of front-office success is playoff appearances.

It seems the NFL agrees, as when The Athletic’s Jeff Howe asked 29 general managers, head coaches and high-ranking team executives to rank the league’s top front offices, their votes aligned closely with playoff appearances.

Only two of the top 13 vote-getters — the Seahawks and 49ers — missed last year’s postseason.
The Broncos, led by general manager George Paton, were the only team without multiple playoff appearances since 2020 to receive votes.
The teams with playoff appearances in at least four of the past five seasons — Chiefs (five), Bills (five), Buccaneers (five), Ravens, Steelers, Eagles, Rams and Packers — all received first or second-place votes.

Click here to read the full rankings, which left one team off the list despite three playoff appearances since 2020. Hint: Their owner is currently celebrated more in Green Bay than in his team’s city.

Extra Points

📚 Committed to excellence. James Boyd shares the details behind Daniel Jones’ breakout season that has the Colts 3-0 for the first time since 2009. First in, last out, of course.

🇪🇺 A 10-day stay in Europe? No vacation for the Vikings’ operations staff, who are managing the unprecedented overseas journey to face the Steelers in Ireland and the Browns in England. “Pallets of water, Gatorade, and yes, ranch dressing have already been delivered,” explains Alec Lewis.

🎙 Talk with Arch Manning. “Scoop City Podcast” co-host Chase Daniel shares what he learned from hanging with football’s most famous QB nephew in Texas.

📽 YouTube x NFL? The league is embracing content creators on the streaming giant, as Jourdan Rodrigue writes: Roger Goodell said he doesn’t know whether a streamer will get a Super Bowl in the 2030s, but allowed that “anything is possible.”

💸 Why are NFL franchises more valuable than soccer clubs? The Athletic explains.

▶️ Yesterday’s most-clicked: The Athletic’s Week 4 Power Rankings.

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(Photo: Al Bello / Getty Images)