NFL insider reveals likelihood of Jaxson Dart starting for Giants amid strong preseason

Jaxson Dart is making quite the impression throughout the preseason, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported. The former Ole Miss QB was drafted as the future of the New York Giants, but that future could be coming sooner than people think.

Right now, it’s a matter of Russell Wilson, and even Jameis Winston, fending off Dart from starting at this moment. Wilson is the guy right now and head coach Brain Daboll wants to make sure Dart develops.

But as Fowler reported, you can only do so much in developing a QB like Dart before putting him in there. It’s quite possible Giant fans see a good amount of the rookie this year.

“I mean, they can’t hide their excitement,” Fowler said on SportsCenter. “They’re thrilled with Jaxson Dart, not only on the field with what he’s producing the preseason, but behind the scenes. He’s a fast learner. He’s highly motivated, all those things. He’s been getting a lot of second team reps in practices, even mixing him in in some first team situations you saw last night where he came into a screen pass, maybe they could create a package for him during the season. But the team has been pretty adamant, not only with what Brian Daboll said, but behind the scenes about wanting to develop Dart. 

“When they drafted him, they knew he was going to take time coming out of Ole Miss in a collegiate system. They don’t want to rush this thing. They want to make sure he’s ready long term. So Russell Wilson will get the nod to start the year. It’s really going to be a matter of whether he can fend off Dart, fend off Jameis Winston, win enough games to keep that job.”

Dart finished Saturday’s 31-12 win over the New York Jets 14-of-16 passing for 137 yards and one touchdown. In total, through two games, Dart is 26-of-35 (74.2%) for 291 yards and two touchdowns.

“I think there’s a lot of Eli in there,” now-sixth-year Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin told Giants radio host John Schmeelk. “But then he has his dad in him, the defensive personality in him where it takes over a little bit and he gets a little aggressive. But most time throughout the week and stuff he’s very calm. There was a lot of scrambling early on, the first year, and then he really started to keep his eyes downfield and create plays alive. Stay behind the line of scrimmage and create big plays, which he did a lot, including in the last bowl game.”