Joe Schoen traded up into the first round of Thursday night’s NFL Draft to land the Giants a future franchise quarterback: Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart.
And Dart, 21, was just as happy as the Giants that Schoen paid the Houston Texans the No. 34 overall pick of the second round, pick No. 99 in the third round and a future third to take him at No. 25.
“As a competitor, you want to play on the biggest stages,” Dart, a first-team All-SEC selection in 2024, said on a conference call from his home in Utah. “You want to play in front of the most passionate fans, the most world-renowned program and organization. And that’s just kind of what I wanted to be a part of. I felt like my process of getting to this moment, I just feel like I’m built for it. So I’m really excited to go after it with everything I’ve got.”
Does Dart’s personality fit New York?
“No doubt,” he said emphatically.
Why is that?
“I don’t know,” Dart said. “I just feel like I got an edge to me, and I feel like everybody in the city does, as well. So let’s get to it.”
The Rebels’ quarterback, a 2022 transfer from USC, had an explosive senior season in 2024 with 4,774 total yards of offense, throwing 29 TD passes to six interceptions. He ran an RPO-heavy scheme, or the “run-pass option,” where a shotgun quarterback makes quick throws out of play action to pre-snap reads.
Schoen said he saw Dart play in one game last season, a 26-14 win over Mississippi State on Thanksgiving weekend in the Egg Bowl rivalry. And the GM liked his “accuracy, anticipation, athleticism. He’s not a statue in the pocket, has ability to throw the deep ball, make intermediate throws and RPOs.”
Dart’s relationship with Daboll through the scouting process, however, is what drew the Giants and the quarterback together to the point that New York took him over Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders — a player they had scouted even more extensively and who had support in the building.
“I like the way he plays,” Daboll said. “I like his competitive fire. I like his accuracy. The system he ran at Ole Miss is similar to the one we ran at Alabama. He’s gotten better every year he’s played. He’s a leader. He’s smart.”
Dart met with the Giants extensively beginning at the Senior Bowl in early February and continuing at the NFL Combine in late February. As the Daily news first reported, Dart took his top 30 visit to the Giants’ facility in East Rutherford, N.J., in early March, right after the combine.
Then the Giants sent an enormous contingent of coaches and evaluators to Oxford, Miss., the week of March 19 for their own private work with Dart.
That group included Schoen, head coach Brian Daboll, senior personnel consultant Chris Mara, director of player personnel Tim McDonnell, offensive coordinator Mike Kafka and quarterback coach Shea Tierney.
Schoen and Tierney followed that up by returning with a group that represented the Giants at Dart’s Ole Miss pro day.
By that point, Daboll was texting Dart daily, and it was clear that the Giants and Dart could be a match if New York was able to outspend other suitors like the Browns, Rams and Saints to get him.
“Coach was texting me a lot, and then I would say about two weeks ago he kind of died off,” Dart said. “So I didn’t know what to expect. But I just had a good feeling about this. I felt like it was gonna work.
“Coach [Daboll] was a super easy connection from a personality standpoint,” the QB added. “His competitive edge really fits how I approach everything. It started off easy, and we continued to grow from there. This is the coach I wanted to be coached by.”
Schoen, who took Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter at No. 3 overall, said he started trying to move up from pick No. 34 to acquire Dart once the Pittsburgh Steelers passed on a quarterback at No. 21.
He spoke to the Chargers at No. 22 and Packers at No. 23 and ultimately found a trade with Houston’s Nick Caserio — a trade the Daily News first reported on ‘X’ — that allowed him to retain other important assets later in this draft.
“It was important for us to hold on to pick 65,” Schoen said of the Giants’ higher of two third-round picks. “The pick in the fourth round at the top [at 105] is a good pick, too.”
It’s important to recognize that Dart is only a Giant because the Tennessee Titans rebuffed Schoen’s efforts to trade up from No. 3 overall to the No. 1 pick to acquire Miami quarterback Cam Ward.
This spring, Schoen offered the Titans the Giants’ No. 3 overall pick, their first-round pick next year and more to no avail, ESPN reported Thursday night.
It marks the second straight year Schoen has offered a future first-round pick to try to move up for a quarterback.
In 2024, Schoen included picks No. 6 and No. 47 overall and the Giants’ 2025 first rounder in a package to the Patriots for No. 3 with his eyes on North Carolina’s Drake Maye. But New England stayed and picked Maye themselves.
This offseason, Schoen then sought numerous solutions to the Giants’ quarterback vacancy created by the shutdown and release of Daniel Jones. Those efforts included an aggressive pursuit of the Rams’ Matthew Stafford, aims at adding Aaron Rodgers and Schoen’s attempt to trade up to No. 1 for Ward.
In the end, the Giants’ GM signed veterans Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston. And on Thursday night, it sounded like they intend to redshirt Dart and develop him behind those veterans.
“He’s in a really good spot where he can come in and sit behind a couple veteran quarterbacks and learn, and he doesn’t have to be thrown out there right away,” Schoen said. “From a developmental standpoint and the ability to grow, I think it’s a perfect situation for a young quarterback.”
Daboll added: “Russ will be our starter.”
Dart led all of college football with 1,517 yards and 17 TDs on deep passes of 20 air yards or more in 2024. And he ran the ball at least 119 times in all three of his Ole Miss seasons, including eight touchdown runs in 2023 and 124 carries for 495 yards and three TDs last year.
Schoen said the “outgoing” Dart is “fiery” on the field but noted that “we’re going to probably have to teach him how to slide.
“You watch him, he’s trying to run people over, in the Senior Bowl, too,” Schoen said. “It’s like, dude, you’re in an all-star game, you probably shouldn’t trying to be run that linebacker over, and he did that in the game.”
The story of why the Giants passed on Sanders is not over.
Schoen acknowledged that “we were still meeting on Monday of this week” to solidify their final evaluations and decisions on the QBs. The Giants spent a ton of time at Colorado’s games and practices in the fall, let alone their extensive work all spring, including a late private workout in Boulder.
But there was not a consensus internally and ultimately Sanders wasn’t selected by any of the 32 NFL teams on Thursday night. The son of Deion Sanders now waits to see who will take a chance on him in Round Two.
Dart, meanwhile, was headed out to celebrate with family and friends on Thursday evening before taking a cross-country flight to New Jersey on Friday to be introduced to New York in person.
“You can anticipate and expect and try to make predictions about how you’re gonna feel in that moment, but there’s nothing you can do to prepare yourself for that phone call,” Dart said. “I was overcome with a emotion a little bit but I was super exited. This is the place I wanted to be.”
