Skip to main content
Ole Miss

QB Change in the Big Apple: Jaxson Dart’s time is now for the New York Giants

Ben Garrettby: Ben Garrett09/23/25SpiritBen
Mel-Kiper-pushes-back-on-New-York-Giants-going-from-Russell-Wilson-to-Jaxson-Dart
© Peter Casey-Imagn Images | © Mark Smith-Imagn Images

Jaxson Dart is the new starting quarterback for the New York Giants. 

Both ESPN and NFL Network reported Tuesday Dart is taking over for Russell Wilson after the Giants 0-3 to the 2025-26 season. Wilson passed for just 160 yards and two interceptions in a 22-9 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

Quarterback play has been an issue for the Giants dating back to Eli Manning’s final year as the starter in 2018. Dart is following a career track eerily similar to Manning, another all-time Ole Miss great.

Manning pushed out veteran Kurt Warner his rookie year.

“I think there’s a lot of Eli in there,” sixth-year Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said of Dart. “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.”

The Giants in April made Dart the first Rebel quarterback since Manning in 2004 taken in the first round of the NFL Draft. They landed him at No. 25 overall.

The Parcells Prototype: Jaxson Dart already looks like Giants’ future

New York hosts the Los Angeles Chargers (3-0) Sunday at 12 p.m. CT on CBS. 

Dart in the preseason completed 32 of his 42 passes (68.1 percent) for 372 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. He also rushed for 52 yards and another score.

He’s the only Giants quarterback signed long-term at four years, $17 million.

“Dart’s got that aura about him,” Giants running back Devin Singletary said. “Coming in as a rookie, he’s not nervous about anything. He’s attacking everything head-on. He’s not afraid to make a check if he has to. You can see he can make all the throws. We got ourselves a dog with JD, for sure.”

Dart was a three-year starter at Ole Miss and left as the program’s all-time leader in wins (28). He led the Rebels to back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time since the 60s.

Ole Miss has won 10 or more games in three of the last four years. The No. 13-ranked Rebels are 4-0 (2-0 SEC) to open this season and next host No. 3 LSU. Kickoff on Saturday is 2:30 p.m. CT on ABC.

Dart is one of just four players in SEC history with 12,000 total career yards. 

He shattered the Ole Miss single-season records for passing and total offense — both previously held by Manning — and also broke his own school marks for single-bowl passing yards and total offense.

Dart was a first-team All-SEC selection last season after throwing for 4,279 yards and 29 touchdowns.

“[Ole Miss] is the best decision that I made to come here from a coaching standpoint and being able to be developed,” Dart said back in the summer. “My coaches in the NFL definitely praise my development and being able to understand schemes and whatnot from playing in this offense and playing with the coaching staff that I did.

“It was a special place for me. This is the place that I want to continue to come back. I’m buying a house here. I love it here. It’s like a second home for me.”

You may also like