WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — It is becoming clearer each day that a heavy portion of the New York Giants’ 2026 offense will be run from under center.
On Thursday, starting quarterback Jaxson Dart was under center, unofficially, for 18 of his 30 snaps. That is 60%. On Wednesday, Dart was under center on eight of 17 snaps I counted (I did miss a few).
“It’s part of our offense, what our offense is going to be,” head coach John Harbaugh said on Thursday. “We’re going to be in various elements of it.
That’s one of them.”
Spending 50% or more of his time under center is a massive change for Dart. It is not something he did much of at Ole Miss. As a rookie with the Giants in 2025, Dart was in the shotgun 87% of the time, under center only 10%, and in the pistol alignment 2%.
Aligning the quarterback under center adds variety to the Giants’ options in the run game, and brings real play action into play. Dart said earlier this week that he is “feeling comfortable” under center.
“There are a few things mechanically that are different,” Dart said. “Probably just the biggest thing is a little bit of footwork landmarks in the pocket. But we’ve repped the hell out of it, I’m feeling really good with the track that we’re on and I’m feeling comfortable.”
Dart has made a handful of nice play-action throws from under center during the first two days of training camp. One that stood out Thursday was a crossing route of roughly 15 yards to tight end Isaiah Likely that was floated nicely over linebacker Tremaine Edmunds. Another was a deep shot down the left sideline to Darnell Mooney.
“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.”
It is an element we are going to see a lot of in 2026.
