John Harbaugh is the biggest reason for the optimism around the New York Giants entering the 2026 season.
Jaxson Dart, though, holds the key to just how bright the Giants’ future might be.
This is something I said this week during an appearance on the ‘NFC East Mixtape’ podcast:
“Everything starts for the Giants with John Harbaugh. You guys know what the Giants have been for the last 12, 13 years. It hasn’t been pretty. It has mostly not been enjoyable. There are warts on John Harbaugh’s resume from
Baltimore. We know that. But John Harbaugh brought credibility. He brought culture. He brought leadership. He brought professionalism and an idea for how to build a football team that this organization badly needed. So everything changes with John Harbaugh. Everything starts with John Harbaugh.
“It doesn’t go where the Giants want it to go unless Jaxson Dart is what they think he can be at some point in the future. So, it starts with with Harbaugh, but if they’re going to get where they want to be, it runs through Jaxson Dart.“
Dart’s potential is one of the reasons Harbaugh took the Giants job. In a fascinating sitdown with former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, Harbaugh said Dart is “even more talented than I thought he was.”
“When you watch a player every day in practice, you get a sense of what he’s capable of doing. He can really throw it,” Harbaugh told Tomlin. “He really has a great pocket presence. He understands the pocket. He feels it. He also sees downfield. Then he can get out and move and he can make plays. He’s got a patience and poise about him.”
That doesn’t mean Dart, a second-year quarterback with 12 NFL starts on his resume, is where the Giants need him to be.
“He’s learning,” Harbaugh said. “Our coaches are doing a great job with him every single day. He’s got to find a way to be tight and refined like all the quarterbacks do. But you don’t want to take away. You never took it away from Ben [Roethlisberger] …
“… There’s times that they’ll just they’ll look at you and you’ll know. It’s like, “Hey, man, I trust you.” You go be you.”
‘Backyard football’ isn’t enough
In his annual quarterback rankings, Chris Simms of NBC Sports had Dart at No. 22. That is one spot ahead of Cam Ward of the Tennessee Titans, and one spot behind Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles.
In an exclusive interview with Big Blue View, Simms said his biggest long-term question about Dart is whether he will ever be an elite thrower of the football.
“Dart’s got unreal feel and instincts, right. And his ability to extend plays and play backyard football is really where he’s special, and really a part of his game that I did not see that coming from what I evaluated in college,” Simms said. “He’s a pretty good decision-maker.
“I like his arm. I’m just saying I don’t know if it’s elite. I’m not sure it’s an elite arm. It’s a real good arm.”
Simms said Dart “hits the throws that are there to be made.” Simms just isn’t certain the 23-year-old can make the special throws that separate some of the elite quarterbacks.
“Do I think he can make some of the high level throws that I would say the elite guys in the sport right now can make? Mahomes, Allen, Burrow, Lamar, Justin Herbert, Caleb Williams, Matthew Stafford,” Simms said. “Those guys make five or six throws a game where I go, no, you don’t understand there. Nobody in football made those five or six throws today. That was a special play or throw or the ability to kind of slide in the pocket and throw a 25-yard laser on the right sideline into a window where, a lot of quarterbacks, you go, well, don’t even throw that. Don’t even do that.
“That’s just one area I think that I’d like to see a little bit more of, and be proven that he can do that on a consistent basis. And I guess I just haven’t seen that yet.”
Benefits of playing under center
Dart will be asked to play under center much more this season than he did as a rookie. The offense will emphasize play-action throws from the pocket. Dart wasn’t asked to do that often last season, and wasn’t great at it when it was required. Dart completed just 57.3% of play-action passes in 2025, 24th of 26 qualifying quarterbacks, per Pro Football Focus.
Early in training camp, Dart said the Giants had “repped the hell out of” under center, play-action. It is something we continued to see him spend a large amount of time working on during each practice throughout the summer.
Perhaps the under center work is part of helping Dart become “tight and refined” as a quarterback.
“I don’t know how much he’s done it [under center], but he looks good doing it. It hasn’t been an issue at all,” Harbaugh said. “I would say, under center in the passing game, it does really discipline your footwork because the drops are so important under center. I think it enhances – he would tell you it helps even in the gun, in the pistol, or whatever. It’s just another element.”
Simms believes playing under center, with the increased respect defenses have to give the run game and play-action, will be good for Dart.
“The greatest thing is it’s the best way to create explosive plays on the field right now is play action pass,” Simms said. “We’re at an era where it’s very weird, where explosive plays are actually probably at this point, more indicative of who’s going to win the game rather than turnover margin.
“So that’s again, where those big throws that we talk about and all that, I think they have more value now in the NFL than ever before, because the defenses are just so good. They’re so talented. It’s too hard to say, Oh yeah, we’re going to drive 12 plays, 75 yards all game long. There’s going to be a strip sack. There’s going to be a tip pass interception. So, you need to be able to make those explosive plays.”
Simms said Dart is “made for” the kind of offense the Giants are implementing. There is one caveat. Can he make the difficult throws from the pocket?
“Within that play action pass thing, I think we will get to [see] what you’re talking about, where, yeah, we’re going to see if he can make some of those big explosive plays into tight windows, because I think it’s going to be asked of him more this year than it was maybe last year,” Simms said.
‘Best quarterback in the world’
Jon Runyan Jr. spilled the beans regarding an interesting text Dart sent to his offensive linemen a few days ago, per the New York Post. It read:
“I want to be the best quarterback in the world.’’
Dart certainly isn’t that right now. He will probably never be. Simms has no issue with the goal.
“I have no problems with him telling his teammates and stuff like that,” Simms said “I respect the guy that puts himself out there like that and almost puts pressure on himself and expectations. He lets everybody know.
“Your great quarterbacks are all really wired that way … I do respect that confidence and a little bit of the burden of, hey, look, I’m trying to be something special here. So I hope that makes guys want to be a part of that.”
It’s no surprise that Simms said Dart won’t get there unless he does a better job protecting himself.
“The first thing is you can’t be in the top 10 [among quarterbacks] if you’re hurt every other week,” Simms said. “So let’s just start there.
“As you know, the best ability is availability. So, we can’t be taking some of these hits. He’s got to realize that the extra three yards are not worth what his value is to the team. That’s part of being the unselfish quarterback. That’s what you got to do.”
Simms believes the talent is there for Dart to be a top 10 quarterback.
“I really think he’s got everything,” Simms said. “I just want to see a few more of those in the pocket game-changing difference type of throws.”
Sunday’s will be Dart’s first NFL season-opening start.
“I think that I’ve just been waiting for this,” Dart said. “I think this is just the coolest stage, the coolest opportunity to play in front of our fans, Sunday night football against a team like the Cowboys and go out there and compete and it’s going to be an electric atmosphere and I can’t wait to be a part of it.”
Dart feels like a better player than he was as a rookie.
“I feel like I’m not even the same person at all. Obviously, the growth that you make from the experiences that you have from one year to the next. And I just feel like I’ve grown a ton through this offseason,” he said. “So, I feel comfortable. I feel like I’m seeing things really well. And this is going to be a really good test for our team and with a team like the Cowboys are going to be really competitive.”
There is a long way to go, though, for Dart to be what he wants to be. And what the Giants need him to be. Dart has been willing to put in the work.
“I think anytime that you are really pushing yourself to your limits on end, I think that’s where and really in any profession, whatever you’re doing, you’re going to grow the most,” Dart said. “That was an emphasis that I really wanted to put on myself coming into year two. Having a different situation than last, where this year I was the guy and I want to take the necessary steps to go out there. And I think that there’s a ton of extra motivation from this past season. And I want to do something special.”
“So, whatever it takes, that’s the same that we say in the locker room all the time. So, it doesn’t matter the time that you got to put in, whatever it takes to win and whatever it takes for you to be ultimately your best is required day in and day out.”
