Developing Jaxson Dart needs to be priority No. 1 for the New York Giants for the remainder of this season.
At 2-6, the chances of the Giants making the playoffs are exceedingly slim. But this is not the year for fans to beg and plead for the franchise to “tank,” lose games, and get a high draft pick.
The Giants have their quarterback in Jaxson Dart. The rookie out of Ole Miss has been impressive through his first six starts, earning the respect of his peers and receiving glowing reviews from legends of the game like Tom Brady.
Building around Dart and setting this promising young talent up for success needs to be the team’s main goal. Sending him out to play with this current supporting cast, however, works against that goal.
The Giants are asking Dart to play with a practice squad offense
The Giants are asking Dart to play with an unacceptable lack of talent around him. With RB Cam Skattebo now out for the rest of the season, the offensive lineup is shredded to bits.
Darius Slayton, Wan’Dale Robinson, Theo Johnson, and Daniel Bellinger are Dart’s top receiving targets remaining following the injury of Malik Nabers in Week 4. This is not a threatening offensive lineup for any defense to face.
Tyrone Tracy Jr. is a promising second-year running back to carry the rock alongside Dart in the backfield, but the rest of the lineup is thin.
Dart needs more support around him. Rumors swirled last week indicating that the Giants had an interest in acquiring a wide receiver on the trade block ahead of the November 4 deadline. With this lineup as shredded as it is, the team’s interest should be higher than ever.
Connor Hughes of SNY summarized the Giants’ need to add a playmaker in a recent post on X:
Dart’s supporting cast is among the worst in the NFL. The Giants are asking for their rookie quarterback to carry their offense right now, and that isn’t a healthy burden for any young player to shoulder. Amidst all this losing, Dart needs more support to turn things around.
Jaxson Dart is already sick of losing
Dart expressed his frustration with the Giants’ blowout loss after the game, saying it was an “embarrassing” feeling to lose in such fashion.
“I thought they really kind of dominated most of the game and it’s an embarrassing feeling,” Dart told the media. “That’s just kind of how I feel. It’s frustrating because I felt confident coming into this game. I felt obviously extra motivated because of how things happened last week and I really didn’t want one to lead to another. I’m just disappointed that we lost.”
Dart hates to lose — that much he made abundantly clear in his presser. And he also demanded that the team figure out how to fix their issues, because he will not accept losing.
“We have to start figuring out ways to win because I do, I hate it, and I’m not used to it and I’m not just going to accept it,” Dart told the media. “I’m not going to be okay with it and we as a team can’t be okay with it. We have to figure this out.”
The best way to stunt a rookie quarterback’s growth is to get him used to the feeling of using. Losing games will do more damage to a quarterback than anything else.
The Giants need to stop losing football games immediately, for Dart’s sake more than anything. Trading away valuable draft picks might be a tough sell for a front office running a 2-6 football team; however, the Giants need to give Dart immediate help.
Trading for a playmaker mid-season will allow Dart to have a reliable pass-catcher to target and will increase the Giants’ ability to win games this season. Achieving both of those goals is in the service of the team’s promising rookie quarterback.
While it might be unorthodox for a losing team to make a splashy move for an immediate upgrade, it’s the move the Giants need to make this season in order to ensure they don’t derail the development of their rookie quarterback.