Jaxson Dart’s rookie season was a promising one for the Giants. He finished with an impressive 24 total touchdowns and just 7 turnovers and showed potential from his first start to his last.
The things that stand out about Dart’s game are his toughness, feel, and the fact that he has so many ways that he can beat a defense.
However, every area that can be considered a strength of his also needs more refinement. He is one of the most interesting quarterbacks to keep an eye on because he is capable of taking off and becoming a star. But he is also capable of stagnating due to some bad habits and his overall style of play.
The way he develops over the next 2 years will be critical.
Below, I take a deep dive into Dart’s 2025 season and show you over 50 plays covering the following areas:
Playing from the pocket
Manipulating and holding defenders
Quick game
Anticipation and ball placement
Inconsistent accuracy
Sloppy footwork
Letting the game come to him
Making plays with his legs
A Factor in the designed run game
Protecting himself
Playing from the Pocket
While this is an area that absolutely needs refinement, there are all kinds of things to like about Dart’s abilities from the pocket.
It goes without saying that Dart is a tough quarterback, unafraid to take a hit. Sometimes, that can even be a problem since he often breaks the pocket and takes too many (more on that in a bit).
But he has shown the willingness to hang in the pocket at times and deliver the ball downfield while knowing he’s about to be drilled by a defender.
Just take this 3rd-and-8 in the Giants’ surprise early-season win over the defending-champion Eagles:
What I really like about the play was that Dart quickly deciphered the coverage, saw the post-snap rotation, realized it was cover-1 and knew because of it that he could lay the ball out for his receiver:
You’re not making that type of throw vs. zone, so this was a great job of understanding the coverage and knowing what type of throw he could make. And he did all that with pressure bearing down on him.
Here are a few more examples below.
This was a 3rd-and-2 from that same game. The Eagles played Cover-0 funnel. Dart did a good job of recognizing the coverage and understanding that there would be a free rusher and no deep safety in the middle of the field. So again, he laid the ball out perfectly to his receiver (who unfortunately dropped it):
This next play was another 3rd-and-2 vs. the same coverage. This time, the protection picked up the pressure. Dart understood that he had time, reset his feet, and was able to find his 2nd read for the completion:
Here’s one more example. This time, Dart hung in vs. the blitz and didn’t panic with a free rusher in his face:
As mentioned above, a flaw of Dart’s is that he sometimes will look to make a play with his legs and break the pocket too early. But he has the ability to hang in against pressure, survey the field, and get the ball where it needs to go. If he can harness this ability, he’ll be twice as difficult to stop.
Manipulating and Holding Defenders
Dart has shown the ability to move or hold defenders in order to create windows at the intermediate level. This is a trait that the best quarterbacks in the league have (as you’ll see when you watch 2025 MVP Matthew Stafford). If Dart can continue to develop it, he’ll be all the more dangerous as a passer.
Watch him hold the single-high safety on this play, plant his back foot, then come back to the left and hit his receiver in the seam for a touchdown:
He probably could have put the ball a little further to the right than he did (I understand why he didn’t), but I like the process:
You can see the same thing on these throws as well:
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