As Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season nears for the Giants, so does the start of Year 2 for quarterback Jaxson Dart.
Dart impressed during his rookie season, taking the starting job away from Russell Wilson ahead of Week 4 and showed a dynamic skillset that earned him the No. 25 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
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In 14 games (12 starts), the 23-year-old threw for 2,272 yards and 15 touchdowns with five interceptions while completing 63.7 percent of his passes. He also added 487 yards on the ground and nine rushing touchdowns on 86 carries while fumbling five times and losing two.
It was a solid first season in the NFL for the youngster, however he missed two games in the middle of it due to a concussion and had to be examined for multiple possible concussions during games because of his often risky and borderline dangerous style of play. To make matters worse, Dart was sacked 35 times thanks to a poor offensive line.
So, as the signal-caller gets ready to enter his second season in the league, what are some of the things he’s improved upon after a full offseason and training camp and what is he most excited to go out and show on the field?
“I feel so much better,” Dart said. “I feel in command. I feel confident. In this offense, there’s a lot that’s put on the quarterback’s plate, but it’s exactly how I want it. It’s exactly how I viewed this coming together. And we still have a lot of room to improve and grow as a unit, but I’m definitely feeling way better each and every day, continuing to learn, continuing to grow as a player, and just the comfort in the offense, seeing the defense and putting ourselves in great situations.”
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Unlike much of last season, Dart will hopefully have offensive weapons WR Malik Nabers and RB Cam Skattebo at his disposal for the full length of the season. Both, of course, suffered season-ending injuries with Nabers tearing his ACL in Dart’s first game as the starter and Skattebo suffering a severe ankle dislocation and a fracture of his tibia/fibula in Week 8.
While Skattebo is fully healthy and on track to be New York’s starting running back in Week 1, Nabers’ situation is a bit more murky.
“It’s day-to-day. He’s kind of working through what he needs from one day to the next,” said head coach John Harbaugh regarding Nabers, who was not a full participant in Tuesday’s practice.
Harbaugh continued: “We’ve got to plan for every outcome, exactly. So, we have to plan that he’ll be there fully. We’ll have to plan that he’s not there at all, and we’ll have to plan that he’s there for some partial amount, and every kind of amount in between. So, it makes it tough. There’s no doubt about it.”
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After Monday’s practice, Nabers said he’s feeling “really good” but was noncommital about whether he’d be ready for Week 1 and added he wants to make sure he’s healthy enough to be able to play four quarters.
When asked if the wide receiver would be put on a pitch count once he returns, Harbaugh said “I don’t know, we’ll see.”
As for Dart’s other available targets, that group includes players like Darius Slayton, tight end Isaiah Likely and veteran Odell Beckham Jr. Dart spoke highly of OBJ and his road back to the team after a tumultuous departure following a fantastic career in New York.
“Just, as a kid, that’s like an icon, in a way where you feel like he changed the game a little bit,” Dart said. “… So, that part, it’s a really cool experience. From a player standpoint, really just proud of him. He came in here, he earned it. He got better each and every week, and he’s playing his best ball since he got here right now, from just alignment, assignment, playing fast, getting open, making plays.
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“So, really proud of him, and just the dedication that he’s put in to get into this point. And he’s a great teammate as well. So, there’s a lot that we, as younger guys, can learn from him. And he’s still a great player.”
With a full year under his belt, healthy players surrounding him and the veteran presence of a player like Beckham around, Dart seems poised to take the next step in his development at the helm of the Giants.
“He’s running the whole show,” Harbaugh said. “So, I think he’s come a long way. I think he looks really comfortable in what we’re doing right now but the next test will be game time, and we’ll see how he does. That’ll just be the beginning too. The first game is not the end of the story. The first game is the beginning of the story.”
“I definitely feel like we’ve taken a lot of really big strides,” Dart added.
