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Mississippi quarterback Jaxson Dart warms up at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Saturday, March 1, 2025. | Michael Conroy
The consensus was that former Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward would be the first quarterback taken in the 2025 NFL Draft.
That played out, as he went first overall to the Tennessee Titans on Thursday night.
The second quarterback off the board, though, was more of a surprise.
Utah native Jaxson Dart was that second signal caller taken when the New York Giants traded to get back into the back end of the first round to nab him with the 25th overall selection.
Jaxson Dart’s selection tied to Shedeur Sanders’ slide
The Giants used the third overall pick Thursday to take Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter, who some experts had as the top talent in this year’s draft.
They then traded with the Houston Texans to get back into the first round at No. 25 and took Dart with Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders still on the board.
New York sent Houston picks Nos. 34 (second round), 99 (third round) and a third-rounder in 2026 for the chance to take Dart at No. 25.
The fact Sanders — who was in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for draft festivities — slid that far Thursday night was arguably the primary storyline from the draft’s first round.
Sanders now has to wait until Day 2 of the draft to be selected, as he never heard his name all night.
But back to Dart, the Kaysville native.
Dart, who starred first at Roy High and then Corner Canyon High, ended up learning from Lane Kiffin for three years at Ole Miss after starting his college career at USC.
Dart threw for nearly 12,000 yards and 81 touchdowns as the Rebels’ starting quarterback under Kiffin’s tutelage, while also rushing for 1,500 yards and 12 more scores.
Now, he’s the third Utah native quarterback taken in the NFL draft in the past five years.
He joins another former Corner Canyon quarterback, Zach Wilson, the former BYU signal caller who was the No. 2 overall pick by the New York Jets in 2021, and former Maple Mountain High and BYU quarterback Jaren Hall, who was a fifth-round selection in 2023 by the Minnesota Vikings.
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Mississippi quarterback Jaxson Dart (2) looks to pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against LSU in Oxford, Miss., Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Thomas Graning) | Thomas Graning, AP
How does Jaxson Dart fit in the Giants’ quarterback room?
Dart joins a Giants franchise looking for longterm stability at the quarterback position.
Last year, the franchise traded away Daniel Jones, the No. 6 overall selection in the 2019 draft who started 69 games over six seasons for New York.
The Giants have since added veterans Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston, and it puts Dart in a situation wherein he won’t be asked to jump in and start immediately.
That was a situation that Zach Wilson found himself in five years ago in the Big Apple with the Jets, and it didn’t turn out well.
He was eventually benched multiple times and traded away and is now on his third team in five seasons in the league, with the Miami Dolphins.
Russell Wilson and Winston should be able to handle the load this year while Dart, who was viewed as more of a longterm project heading into the draft, has the chance to prove he can be a franchise quarterback for the Giants while learning in his early years in the NFL.
More historical significance behind Jaxson Dart’s selection
There’s some history in Dart’s favor: the last time the Giants drafted an Ole Miss quarterback, that guy — Eli Manning — ended up leading the franchise to two Super Bowl titles.
Manning was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2004 NFL draft, and in his time in New York, he was twice named Super Bowl MVP and earned four Pro Bowl citations.
His No. 10 is retired with the Giants.
How NFL draft experts reacted to the Jaxson Dart selection
ESPN’s Matt Miller, who identified Dart’s pro comparison as Denver second-year quarterback Bo Nix, seemed to favor how Dart could fit with Giants head coach Brian Daboll.
“With Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston entrenched atop the depth chart, the Giants are good at quarterback for 2025 — but they need an answer for the future,” Miller wrote.
“Dart gets time to develop behind the veterans. And with his physical tools as a deep-ball thrower and as a runner, he’s the best fit of any remaining quarterbacks in the class for Brian Daboll’s offense.”
NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks also liked the pairing of Dart and Daboll.
“Brian Daboll is a QB guru who had tremendous success with Josh Allen in Buffalo and seeks a quarterback with similar athleticism and play-making ability,” Brooks wrote.
“Dart has the traits to play in an offense that features not only traditional dropback passes but movement-based concepts.”
CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco, meanwhile, wasn’t as big of a fan of the selection, giving the Giants a C- for picking Dart. That was Prisco’s lowest grade of the first round.
“I know the Giants needed a quarterback, but I don’t love this move,” Prisco wrote. “Coach Brian Daboll was said to be the one pushing for Dart. Well, he got his guy.
“I just think I would have waited until later to get a quarterback, but desperation makes teams do crazy things when it comes to the quarterback position.”
The Ringer’s Danny Kelly also gave the selection a C- grade, explaining that grade was tied to the fact New York used draft capital to trade back into the first round to snag Dart.
“I like that the Giants didn’t panic and reach badly for a quarterback with the third pick. The Abdul Carter selection was smart, giving the team a blue-chip talent at a premium position. So while it certainly could’ve been worse, I still don’t love the team’s decision to trade back up into the first round to grab Dart. The Giants gave up picks 34 and 99 this year, plus a third-rounder in 2026, to move up and take my 45th-ranked player,” Kelly wrote.
“Dart has some exciting traits, boasting a strong arm and solid mobility. But he’s also a massive projection to the pros after playing in a schemed-up offense at Ole Miss, where he wasn’t asked to make progressions regularly. This pick certainly has upside, but Dart will need time to develop. I’m not sure the Giants will have the patience for that.”
The Athletic’s Nick Baumgardner and Scott Dochterman, though, were big fans of Dart heading to the Giants, giving the pick an A grade while arguing that New York didn’t overpay to get the QB they wanted.
“The Giants did their homework on every available quarterback and picked up the one they wanted, at just the right price. Instead of reaching at No. 3, the Giants picked the best player available there, then traded back into the first round to grab Dart,” Baumgardner and Dochterman wrote. “With veterans Jameis Winston and Russell Wilson in the building, New York has a buffer to ensure that Dart won’t get overwhelmed on day one.
“It’s too early to predict success, but the process was perfect — and the compensation (Nos. 34 and 99, plus a 2026 third-round pick) was not too steep.”
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Mississippi quarterback Jaxson Dart (2) warms up before facing Duke in the Gator Bowl NCAA college football game in Jacksonville, Fla., Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. | Gary McCullough
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