The New York Giants know that quarterback Jaxson Dart needs to avoid some of the big hits he took last season. Dart knows it, too. The Giants, though, won’t handcuff Dart by taking the quarterback run game away from him.
Head coach John Harbaugh made that clear during a recent appearance on ‘The Dominique Foxworth Show.’
“Jaxson’s capable of doing a lot of things,” Harbaugh said on ‘The Domonique Foxworth Show.’ “Like he can live in a lot of different worlds, football-wise. He can live in a power-running
game, obviously, and a power-running game protects the quarterback because you can hand the ball off and make people defend that and keep them honest. Then, it opens up your play-action passing game. … That stuff, we’re gonna be in those worlds.
“But now we can also get in the gun or we can get in the pistol, and we can run RPOs, we can run quarterback-driven runs with Jaxson Dart, a lot of the stuff that we hand in Baltimore with Lamar, as well. That’s passes that are almost run reads. So now if they want to defend the pass, the quick-game pass, you can just hand the ball off to a softer front and give your guards and centers and tackles a chance to double-team defensive linemen off the ball because there’s less people in there to get off the double team quicker and you can block people longer.
“So, that all kind of goes together on first and second down to create problems for the defense, and I just feel like it all starts with the quarterback. Jaxson is a guy that does give you a chance to live in all those different worlds. So, if he can do it, then we’re gonna do it, and that’s what we’re planning on doing.”
Dart missed two games last season with a concussion suffered while running with the ball in a game against the Chicago Bears. He was also checked in-game for concussions on four other occasions, including a preseason game against the Buffalo Bills.
Dart spoke this spring about making “mature decisions” and trying to stay available.
“Just having the experience last year of sitting out two games, I hadn’t done that in my career. So, I just hated that time of not being out there with my teammates,” Dart said. “So obviously I understand the most important thing is to be out there. So, you just grow and learn from things. And I think I’m going to do a good job at it this year for sure.”
Harbaugh is, of course, familiar with the dangers presented by a running quarterback — both to the opposition and to your own team. He saw both sides while coaching Jackson. He realizes “things can happen out there” even if a quarterback tries to protect himself.
“I mean, he’s aware of it,” Harbaugh said of the importance of Dart staying healthy. “You got a fine line. I remember hearing the same thing about Lamar, and the same things were said about Lamar really every year but especially after the first season. It’s unsustainable the way he plays. It’s never gonna last. You’ve got to protect him. He can’t run as much.” You say something like that to Lamar, and he kinda just looks at you like you’ve got three heads. It’s like, ‘No, I’m gonna play ball, I’m gonna play ball.‘ I just knew, I trusted that he was gonna protect himself because he wants to be out there and he wants to play and it’s not the type of a sport where you [can] put yourself in bubble wrap. You’re gonna play ball and you’re gonna get tackled and things can happen out there.
“But I do think playing the game in a way that respects that there are other guys out there that are capable of doing damage to you when you have the ball in your hands, especially for the quarterback, is important. I trust that Jaxson Dart understands that.”
Jackson dealt with injuries that cost him multiple games in 2021, 2022, and 2025. The safest place for a quarterback remains the pocket. He has the protection of the rule book while he is there, and his offensive linemen no where he is. Once the quarterback leaves the pocket, all bets are off.
The two games Dart missed as a rookie won’t be the last ones he misses in his career. The Giants can only hope, though, that he means it when he says he will do a better job assessing when to take risks and when not to.
