Jaxson Dart

Jaxson Dart is the New York Giants quarterback the franchise traded back into the first round to draft 25th overall in 2025, the first non-Manning quarterback Ole Miss ever sent to the NFL’s opening round. After an 0-3 Giants start, he replaced Russell Wilson as the starter in Week 4 of his rookie season, won his debut against the then-undefeated Los Angeles Chargers, and held the job for the rest of 2025. A dual-threat passer in the Lane Kiffin mold, Dart was, through the 2026 season, the player New York had chosen to build its offense around.

Vitals
Born	May 13, 2003, Kaysville, Utah
Height / Weight	6-2, 223 lbs
Position	Quarterback (No. 6)
College	USC (2021), Ole Miss (2022-2024)
Teams	New York Giants (2025-present)
Draft	2025, Round 1, 25th overall (New York Giants)
Contract	Four-year rookie deal worth $16.98M, fully guaranteed, with a fifth-year option for 2029; on injured reserve as of Nov. 3, 2026
Number	6

Ole Miss

The USC start. Dart opened his college career at USC in 2021, appearing in six games with three starts. His debut was memorable: pressed into action against Washington State, he completed 30 of 46 passes for 391 yards and four touchdowns. He transferred to Ole Miss the following offseason to run Lane Kiffin’s up-tempo offense.

Three years in Oxford. From 2022 through 2024, Dart started 38 games for the Rebels and led the program to back-to-back 10-win seasons. His 2024 campaign was the best of the three: he threw for 4,279 yards with 29 touchdowns against six interceptions on 69.3 percent passing, and set the Ole Miss single-season total-offense record at 4,774 yards.

Passing the Mannings. In the second quarter of the 2024 Egg Bowl, Dart moved past Eli Manning to become Ole Miss’s all-time career passing-yards leader. Across his college career at both schools he completed 852 of 1,307 attempts for 11,970 yards with 81 touchdown passes and 27 interceptions, and added 1,541 rushing yards and 14 scores on the ground, per his record at Ole Miss.

The 2025 draft

Trading up. The Giants selected Dart 25th overall in the 2025 NFL Draft after trading back into the first round in a deal with the Houston Texans. He was the third Ole Miss quarterback ever taken in the first round, joining Archie Manning (second overall, 1971) and Eli Manning (first overall, 2004), and the first who was not a Manning.

The rookie deal. On May 30, 2025, Dart signed a four-year contract worth roughly $16.98 million, fully guaranteed, including a signing bonus of about $8.99 million. As a first-round pick, his deal carries a fifth-year team option covering the 2029 season.

Taking over as rookie starter

The handoff. Dart began 2025 behind veteran Russell Wilson. After the Giants opened 0-3, the team named him the Week 4 starter on September 23, 2025, and the job was his from there.

The debut. On September 28, 2025, Dart led New York to a 21-18 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, who entered 3-0 under Jim Harbaugh. He completed 13 of 20 passes for 111 yards, threw a touchdown and ran for another, and added 54 rushing yards while the defense intercepted Justin Herbert twice.

The rookie body of work. Dart started 12 of the 14 games he played in 2025, completing 216 of 339 passes (63.7 percent) for 2,272 yards with 15 touchdowns and five interceptions, a 91.7 passer rating. He also carried 86 times for 487 yards and nine rushing touchdowns, giving him 24 total scores. He was named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month for October 2025.

The 2026 turn. Dart opened 2026 as the Week 1 starter, throwing for 230 yards and three touchdowns on 23 of 29 passing in a 28-20 win over Dallas on September 13, 2026. In Week 2, a Monday-night game against the Los Angeles Rams on September 21, he suffered a left knee injury that required surgery and ended his season. He finished 2026 with 250 passing yards and three touchdowns in two games and was placed on injured reserve.

Playing style

A quarterback who runs like a back. Dart’s defining trait is his willingness to carry the ball. He averaged 5.7 yards per carry as a rookie and has been described in scouting and beat coverage as playing almost like a linebacker at the position, a downhill runner rather than a scrambler of last resort.

A system passer with arm talent. Kiffin’s Ole Miss offense built his efficiency numbers on timing, play-action and layered reads, and that profile carried into his rookie production, where he led all first-year quarterbacks in passer rating while averaging a conservative 6.7 yards per attempt. The open question entering the 2026 season was whether his aggressive running could be sustained across a full 17-game slate.

By the numbers

Season	Team	GP	GS	Cmp%	Yds	TD	INT	Rate	Rush Yds	Rush TD
2025	NYG	14	12	63.7	2,272	15	5	91.7	487	9
2026	NYG	2	2	76.5	250	3	0	-	54	0

Career totals

Ranks

• 1st Rushing TDs by a Giants QB, single season (9, 2025)
• 1st Passer rating among 2025 NFL rookie QBs (91.7)
• 1st Total touchdowns among 2025 NFL rookies (24)

Honors

• 2025 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month (October)
• Giants single-season QB rushing-TD record (9, 2025)
• Best passer rating among 2025 NFL rookie QBs (91.7)
• Most total TDs among 2025 NFL rookies (24)
• Ole Miss all-time passing-yards leader
• First-round pick, 25th overall, 2025 NFL Draft

Per StatMuse and Wikipedia, through Oct. 29, 2026.

The arguments

Was trading back into Round 1 worth it? Supporters of the move, including much of the Giants beat, pointed to the franchise’s long search for a quarterback and framed the decision to move up for Dart as the kind of conviction pick a rebuild requires. Skeptics argued that surrendering additional capital to climb for the 25th-rated prospect was a steep price for a passer several boards had graded as a Day 2 talent. His rookie efficiency gave the first camp its early evidence; the debate over the cost remained.

Can the running hold up? One side of the durability question treats Dart’s rushing as the engine of his value: nine rushing touchdowns and 5.7 yards per carry as a rookie are the numbers of a genuine dual threat, and analysts credited that mobility for the Giants’ improved red-zone offense. The other side warned that a quarterback who runs like a back invites contact, and the season-ending left knee injury he suffered in Week 2 of 2026 became the reference point for that concern. Neither the upside nor the risk has been settled.

How real is the rookie efficiency? Backers note that Dart led all 2025 rookie quarterbacks in passer rating, a leaderboard finish that is hard to dismiss. Doubters counter that he started only 12 games and averaged a modest 6.7 yards per attempt for 2,272 yards, a cautious, system-aided profile rather than a volume breakout, and that a larger sample would be the real test.

Why it matters

Jaxson Dart matters because he is the answer the Giants committed to after years without one: a first-round quarterback whose arrival turned a winless September into a rookie campaign that led all first-year passers in efficiency and reset a franchise rushing record at the position. Whether the running style that made him distinctive proves sustainable after the 2026 knee injury is the question that will define the rest of his career, but through the 2026 season he was, unambiguously, the player New York had chosen to build around.