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EAST RUTHERFORD - Andrew Thomas' response came with a chuckle.
The mere suggestion that New York Giants quarterback and teammate Jaxson Dart could come back for his second season in the NFL with more confidence than he showed as a rookie is laughable.
"Honestly, I wouldn't say confidence has changed," Thomas said earlier this spring with a wry smile. "Jaxson has always had that moxie, that confidence, the way he plays. But I will say I think he's doing a better job of just communicating with everybody as far as what he sees, the way he wants us to block certain things or routes, different coverages and picking up pressures.
"I think he's being more vocal with that. I wouldn't say his confidence changed at all."
Perhaps the most critical part to any success for the Giants in John Harbaugh's first season and beyond will be tied to Dart's progression throughout the summer and into the 2026 season. His presence in the spring has garnered headlines on a much wider scale than anticipated, but the football for his long-term stability and maturation in the spotlight he now commands is what matters more than anything.
At the beginning of the Giants' offseason program, Dart shared some details about where he wants to improve his game, and that's in the pocket. To win more games consistently, there needs to be elements of a traditional passing game to complement what Dart did best last year as he grabbed hold of the starting job and quickly assumed the role as team leader and face of the franchise as QB1.
"I just think from a footwork standpoint, being able to be cleaner throughout my reads," Dart said. "I think there's times when you look back on tape and experiences and maybe you weren't as quick as you wanted to be through a progression. You look back and you say why was that? And it starts with your eyes, making sure they're in the right spots."
And that's been a significant teaching point for Dart with new passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brian Callahan. They have delved into different quarterbacks' tapes, watching and learning how elite NFL quarterbacks he's coached and been around turn knowledge into production.
Matthew Stafford. Peyton Manning. Joe Burrow.
Callahan worked closely with all three star quarterbacks in previous stops in his coaching career.
What Harbaugh has done with the offensive coaching staff with the Giants: it’s as if he paid attention to the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the coaches he hired and fit them together to balance each other out. Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy's strength is in innovative design of the offense, drawing from the Andy Reid playbook. His offenses were inconsistent in his tenure as a head coach in Chicago, drifting at times from the basics successful teams need to embrace at this level.
Callahan's strength has been in his enhancement of quarterbacks. He was a part of the staff in Denver that maximized Manning's skill in a 55-touchdown season. Stafford took off in the two years he worked with Callahan in Detroit - remember, this was pre-Super Bowl champ Stafford with the Rams - by throwing 53 touchdowns to just 20 interceptions. And Burrow's first four years in which he reached a Super Bowl and an AFC title game, Callahan was his QB muse.
Then there is the addition of senior offensive assistant Greg Roman, who has been the OC for Harbaugh in Baltimore with Lamar Jackson and most recently the OC for Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert with the Chargers. Ultimately, Roman's strength is in run design, but his passing attacks have proven to be lacking over the course of his tenures.
Establishing the right structure both schematically and from a personnel perspective around Dart is paramount to his growth under Harbaugh, especially in this first year. And if he can take a page from what Mike Vrabel did in New England, as he brought Josh McDaniels back as OC for Drake Maye, finding the proper mix of experience, innovation and rapport could be the difference in Dart taking his game to another level.
Dart's quest for perfection has not come without growing pains, and that's to be expected.
Adapting to a new offense in which Harbaugh, Nagy and Callahan are asking the 23-year-old to find comfort in the uncomfortable. There is new terminology, new challenges and a new cast of characters around him, and Dart's job is to make it all work together.
There is more to his skill set as a pocket passer and the vertical, downfield element to the Giants’ offense represents untapped, immense potential. What Dart sees and how he reacts with patience and precision without being forced to rely on creativity and backyard football, it's paramount to his taking a Year 2 leap.
"I think he's adjusting really well. He looks good," Harbaugh said of Dart. "I love his competitiveness. He wants to be perfect every play. It's a work in progress all the time. It's still fairly early. But the clock is ticking."
Harbaugh shared that he had his staff play Earth, Wind & Fire's "September" prior to the team meeting that kicked off minicamp this week, and the messaging was clear. You have time, but no time to waste.
Dart continues to build rapport with newcomers Isaiah Likely, Darnell Mooney, Calvin Austin and rookie Malachi Fields, and that has shown up this week. There have been notable connections with veterans Odell Beckham Jr. - a highlight-worthy touchdown in team drills Tuesday - and JuJu Smith-Schuster, not to mention a big day during organized team activities between Dart and Theo Johnson.
It's also worth mentioning Malik Nabers and Darius Slayton have been spectators while progressing through their rehabilitation from knee and sports hernia surgeries. And while the Giants hope both are available for Week 1, the onus will fall on Dart this summer to do what he can to accelerate his chemistry with Slayton and Nabers, their most talented offensive weapon.
So it's no surprise there have been moments where the Dart-led offense has looked out of sync. The grind is supposed to produce as many wins as losses in practice, and the Giants right now see a young quarterback doing everything he can to get to where he wants to be.
"He's very good," Beckham said of Dart. "I watched him last year. He likes to have fun. He enjoys the game of football. That's something great to see from a young quarterback. He’s got an arm on him. Obviously, he's got a lot of swag."
The Giants aren’t chasing myths or ghosts at the position right now with reestablishing success in 2026 under Harbaugh and recreating more with Dart as the centerpiece of the offense on their minds.
That was the case when the season ended, and that's the premise by which the Giants have operated as they remade the roster and the identity of this team.
The Harbaugh era welcomes a bit of a culture shock in terms of how the offense will operate. No one is looking to change Dart - if anything, the Giants hope to capitalize on his skill set and have built the playbook around that - but in terms of how the Giants attack schematically, it's going to be a reset.
Where things are for Jaxson Dart and the Giants right now is not where they expect them to be come September when the Cowboys arrive at MetLife Stadium looking to kick off the season.
It's still early, as Harbaugh said, but the clock is ticking, and that urgency matters as much to Dart as anyone else in the organization. This is his team, and the time is now.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Jaxson Dart's 'quest for perfection' and growing pains as Giants' QB1
Continue reading...
The mere suggestion that New York Giants quarterback and teammate Jaxson Dart could come back for his second season in the NFL with more confidence than he showed as a rookie is laughable.
"Honestly, I wouldn't say confidence has changed," Thomas said earlier this spring with a wry smile. "Jaxson has always had that moxie, that confidence, the way he plays. But I will say I think he's doing a better job of just communicating with everybody as far as what he sees, the way he wants us to block certain things or routes, different coverages and picking up pressures.
"I think he's being more vocal with that. I wouldn't say his confidence changed at all."
Perhaps the most critical part to any success for the Giants in John Harbaugh's first season and beyond will be tied to Dart's progression throughout the summer and into the 2026 season. His presence in the spring has garnered headlines on a much wider scale than anticipated, but the football for his long-term stability and maturation in the spotlight he now commands is what matters more than anything.
At the beginning of the Giants' offseason program, Dart shared some details about where he wants to improve his game, and that's in the pocket. To win more games consistently, there needs to be elements of a traditional passing game to complement what Dart did best last year as he grabbed hold of the starting job and quickly assumed the role as team leader and face of the franchise as QB1.
"I just think from a footwork standpoint, being able to be cleaner throughout my reads," Dart said. "I think there's times when you look back on tape and experiences and maybe you weren't as quick as you wanted to be through a progression. You look back and you say why was that? And it starts with your eyes, making sure they're in the right spots."
And that's been a significant teaching point for Dart with new passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brian Callahan. They have delved into different quarterbacks' tapes, watching and learning how elite NFL quarterbacks he's coached and been around turn knowledge into production.
Matthew Stafford. Peyton Manning. Joe Burrow.
Callahan worked closely with all three star quarterbacks in previous stops in his coaching career.
What Harbaugh has done with the offensive coaching staff with the Giants: it’s as if he paid attention to the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the coaches he hired and fit them together to balance each other out. Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy's strength is in innovative design of the offense, drawing from the Andy Reid playbook. His offenses were inconsistent in his tenure as a head coach in Chicago, drifting at times from the basics successful teams need to embrace at this level.
Callahan's strength has been in his enhancement of quarterbacks. He was a part of the staff in Denver that maximized Manning's skill in a 55-touchdown season. Stafford took off in the two years he worked with Callahan in Detroit - remember, this was pre-Super Bowl champ Stafford with the Rams - by throwing 53 touchdowns to just 20 interceptions. And Burrow's first four years in which he reached a Super Bowl and an AFC title game, Callahan was his QB muse.
Then there is the addition of senior offensive assistant Greg Roman, who has been the OC for Harbaugh in Baltimore with Lamar Jackson and most recently the OC for Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert with the Chargers. Ultimately, Roman's strength is in run design, but his passing attacks have proven to be lacking over the course of his tenures.
Establishing the right structure both schematically and from a personnel perspective around Dart is paramount to his growth under Harbaugh, especially in this first year. And if he can take a page from what Mike Vrabel did in New England, as he brought Josh McDaniels back as OC for Drake Maye, finding the proper mix of experience, innovation and rapport could be the difference in Dart taking his game to another level.
What we've seen from Jaxson Dart in spring workouts
Dart's quest for perfection has not come without growing pains, and that's to be expected.
Adapting to a new offense in which Harbaugh, Nagy and Callahan are asking the 23-year-old to find comfort in the uncomfortable. There is new terminology, new challenges and a new cast of characters around him, and Dart's job is to make it all work together.
There is more to his skill set as a pocket passer and the vertical, downfield element to the Giants’ offense represents untapped, immense potential. What Dart sees and how he reacts with patience and precision without being forced to rely on creativity and backyard football, it's paramount to his taking a Year 2 leap.
"I think he's adjusting really well. He looks good," Harbaugh said of Dart. "I love his competitiveness. He wants to be perfect every play. It's a work in progress all the time. It's still fairly early. But the clock is ticking."
Harbaugh shared that he had his staff play Earth, Wind & Fire's "September" prior to the team meeting that kicked off minicamp this week, and the messaging was clear. You have time, but no time to waste.
Dart continues to build rapport with newcomers Isaiah Likely, Darnell Mooney, Calvin Austin and rookie Malachi Fields, and that has shown up this week. There have been notable connections with veterans Odell Beckham Jr. - a highlight-worthy touchdown in team drills Tuesday - and JuJu Smith-Schuster, not to mention a big day during organized team activities between Dart and Theo Johnson.
It's also worth mentioning Malik Nabers and Darius Slayton have been spectators while progressing through their rehabilitation from knee and sports hernia surgeries. And while the Giants hope both are available for Week 1, the onus will fall on Dart this summer to do what he can to accelerate his chemistry with Slayton and Nabers, their most talented offensive weapon.
So it's no surprise there have been moments where the Dart-led offense has looked out of sync. The grind is supposed to produce as many wins as losses in practice, and the Giants right now see a young quarterback doing everything he can to get to where he wants to be.
"He's very good," Beckham said of Dart. "I watched him last year. He likes to have fun. He enjoys the game of football. That's something great to see from a young quarterback. He’s got an arm on him. Obviously, he's got a lot of swag."
The Giants aren’t chasing myths or ghosts at the position right now with reestablishing success in 2026 under Harbaugh and recreating more with Dart as the centerpiece of the offense on their minds.
That was the case when the season ended, and that's the premise by which the Giants have operated as they remade the roster and the identity of this team.
The Harbaugh era welcomes a bit of a culture shock in terms of how the offense will operate. No one is looking to change Dart - if anything, the Giants hope to capitalize on his skill set and have built the playbook around that - but in terms of how the Giants attack schematically, it's going to be a reset.
Where things are for Jaxson Dart and the Giants right now is not where they expect them to be come September when the Cowboys arrive at MetLife Stadium looking to kick off the season.
It's still early, as Harbaugh said, but the clock is ticking, and that urgency matters as much to Dart as anyone else in the organization. This is his team, and the time is now.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Jaxson Dart's 'quest for perfection' and growing pains as Giants' QB1
Continue reading...
