New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll was peppered with questions about the quarterback depth chart after Jaxson Dart had another impressive preseason game on Saturday.
The No. 25 pick went 14-of-16 for 137 yards and one touchdown in the Giants’ 31-12 win over the New York Jets. He’s 26-of-35 passing for 291 yards and two touchdowns through the first two weeks of the preseason.
Daboll was asked by the press after the game if there was a chance for Dart to get in the “mix” to overtake Russell Wilson in a quarterback battle this summer.
Daboll confirmed Wilson is still the leader, and said he thinks Dart has more to prove before he’s ready to be a starter in the league.
“Russ is our starter and we’re going to keep developing Jaxson,” Daboll said, via the Giants’ website. “We have a plan. We had a plan a while ago. Previous stop we’ve had, we’ve had a plan for this quarterback. It’s specific to each quarterback that you have, they have to possess the traits that you covet, that you look for in the draft.
“I think we just have to keep working with him and understand there’s going to be a lot of downs. I know there’s some ups right now but there’s going to be a lot of downs and we just got to keep growing and communicating, just keep getting better.”
Daboll wouldn’t commit to giving Dart reps with the first-team offense to see what he’s fully capable of with that unit. He also suggested that Dart might look better in the preseason than he would in the regular season because the Jets and the Buffalo Bills used “vanilla” looks against the Giants.
While Dart has more to show Daboll in practice, his patience with the rookie might be tested by how Wilson does early in the regular season. If the veteran struggles in September, he will be pressured into speeding up his plan and starting Dart after a strong preseason.
The Giants are doing the right thing by not throwing Dart into the fire too early. But Dart isn’t making it easy on the coaching staff to keep him in the developmental phase by executing the offense as efficiently as he has in his first two games in the league.
