With Jaxson Dart undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee on Friday, effectively ending his season, the New York Giants weighed their quarterback options for the next 15 weeks.
Jameis Winston will be their starter for the foreseeable future, with practice-squad player Jake Haener serving as the backup. In the meantime, they'll scour the landscape for other serviceable depth options.
"We're in the process. That's really all I can probably say right now," head coach John Harbaugh told reporters Friday when asked about bringing in more quarterbacks. "We are going to have to do that. Whether we can do it before the game or not, I don't know. But we're working on that. That's important to us."
It better be. The loss of Dart can't
be properly calculated, and it certainly can't be rectified this late in the season. Quarterback depth is no longer a luxury in the NFL. Teams are not about to part with viable backups. The Giants will have to dumpster-dive.
But Harbaugh is lucky, though. He has an experienced option in Winston and said he has "faith" that Haener can be a player in this league.
"I mean, he can throw it, man," Harbaugh said. "I mean, I just watched him out here today. You guys probably saw him a little bit earlier. But he fires that thing around. He knows the offense. I have a ton of faith in him. That's why we're okay with it for this game."
Harbaugh then added that, "Going forward, we just can't have two. So, we'll be adding guys."
The 27-year-old Haener was a fourth-round pick of the New Orleans Saints out of Fresno State back in 2023, but has only one NFL start to his credit. Most of his NFL career has been on practice squads. The Giants had him in camp this summer and added him to their practice squad earlier this month.
"Jake has done a great job of preparing,” offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said on Thursday. “He’s very serious, which he should be, but he really cares about this. We do reps at the end of practice where some of the developmental guys get reps and he runs the show, so we get to see what he’s like in that moment. He’ll be ready. He’ll be prepared.”
The Giants are hoping for no more injuries at the position, but stranger things have happened in this league over the years. Nobodies can become somebodies overnight.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: New York Giants' John Harbaugh has 'faith' in backup QB Jake Haener
