The Parcells Prototype: Jaxson Dart already looks like Giants’ future
Legendary football coach Bill Parcells, an NFL Hall of Famer, once developed a set of guidelines for evaluating quarterbacks.
Three-year starter. Senior and graduate from college. Started 30 games and won at least 23. Posted a 2:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Completed at least 60 percent of his passes.
Jaxson Dart checks every box, and in his first preseason with the New York Giants, showed the ‘Parcells Rules’ are still very much relevant in 2025.
Dart, a first-round selection in the NFL Draft in April, 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.
“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.”
RELATED: ‘A lot of Eli in there’: Kiffin backs Dart to thrive with Giants
Dart was a three-year, record-setting starter at Ole Miss.
He left Oxford as the program’s all-time leader in wins (28) and led the Rebels to back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time since the 60s.
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 Eli 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.
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“Jaxson Dart is a better player and athlete than Russell Wilson,” ESPN’s Mike Tannenbaum said earlier this month. “I understand there’s going to be growing pains, but he is somebody that’s energized this franchise. He understands what to do. And when you talk to the Giants organization, they’re actually more thrilled with what he’s doing off the field than on the field.
“Russell Wilson, to me, is an athletically diminished player. He was sacked at a rate 31 percent above the league average. So, is it going to be perfect from Day 1? Absolutely not. He will make mistakes. But a young, ascending Jaxson Dart is what the New York Giants franchise needs because that’ll make them better in November and December.
“Russell Wilson, who’s had a good career, is clearly closer to the end.”
Giants head coach Brian Daboll has already announced Wilson as the team’s starter to open the season.
New York is on the road in back-to-back weeks at Washington and Dallas. Dart, though, could supplant him in short order.
He finished the preseason with an 80 percent adjusted completion percentage. The Giants traded up in the draft to take Dart, and he’s the only quarterback on the roster signed to a long-term contract (four years, $17 million).
“I’m just shifting my perspective to be the best teammate I can be,” Dart said. “Russ has completely earned that role for him. He’s played amazing. He’s played elite. For me, I just want to be the best teammate and I want this team to win. Whatever my role is for that to happen I’m going to do that to the best of my ability.”
