EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Joe Schoen finally got the bat off his shoulder.
The New York Giants general manager said in February that he’s “for taking swings” at quarterback. Schoen took a big one on Thursday night by trading up for Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart. The Giants sent their second-round pick (No. 34), a third-round pick (No. 99) and a 2026 third-round pick to the Houston Texans to move up to No. 25 for Dart.
There were some whiffs on the path to landing Dart. The Giants were prepared to give up valuable draft assets and pay top dollar in a trade for Matthew Stafford, but the Super Bowl quarterback elected to remain with the Rams. The Giants then pursued four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers before exiting that wild mystery ride. They tried to trade up to the first pick for Cam Ward, but the Titans resisted all inquiries and took the Miami quarterback.
That left Schoen in a precarious position. He knew no quarterback was worthy of the No. 3 pick, especially with blue-chip edge rusher Abdul Carter available. So Schoen took Carter without hesitation with the third pick and then bided his time to see what would happen with the quarterbacks.
Schoen was wary of giving up too much in a trade, so he had to wait until the asking price started to drop around pick No. 22. He was rebuffed on some probes before finding the Texans as a willing partner.
By pulling the trigger on Dart, Schoen potentially landed on the best of both worlds. He secured an impact player at No. 3 who should help the team immediately while also landing a potential franchise quarterback. Now, there’s a long way to go to know if either player will realize their potential, but that’s the best-case scenario facing the Giants coming out of the first round.
The excitement generated by the picks doesn’t erase everything that led the Giants to this point, however. For all of the optimism generated this offseason, the team assembled by Schoen and coached by Brian Daboll went 3-14 last season.
That dreadful record led co-owner John Mara to offer a vote of confidence that was dripping with apprehension after last season. So when Mara declared finding a quarterback of the future the team’s “No. 1 issue,” taking one early in the draft was always a strong possibility. It became a near-guarantee after the failed bids for Stafford and Rodgers.
For the second consecutive year, Schoen, Daboll and their staffs embarked on an extensive quarterback evaluation process to explore all options. Schoen and Daboll have extolled their process despite the Giants not picking a quarterback in their first three drafts.
The testament to the process is Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who was picked seventh in 2018 when Schoen was Buffalo’s assistant general manager and Daboll was the offensive coordinator . It’s clear Daboll sees some similarities in Dart, praising the quarterback’s toughness, competitiveness and athleticism.
Whether Daboll possesses an uncanny ability to identify franchise quarterbacks or just got lucky with Allen, the Dart pick will at least provide an answer. Daboll was hired mostly because of his work developing Allen. So it would have been a waste if his time in New York came and went without ever getting the opportunity to groom a quarterback.
There’s no question there will be a learning curve for Dart, who excelled in a quarterback-friendly system at Ole Miss. Dart, who turns 22 in May, will start his NFL journey behind veterans Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston on the depth chart.
In an ideal world, the Giants would redshirt Dart for most, if not all, of his rookie season. But again, this regime isn’t operating with a clean slate, and this isn’t an ideal world. The team’s fate will surely dictate when Dart plays. Schoen and Daboll aren’t in a position to keep Dart on the bench if they’re losing with the veterans.
“We’re going to do everything we can to develop him and bring him along,” Daboll said. “We have some good quarterbacks in the room relative to play time, experience, some medals on the wall.”
Dart didn’t receive nearly the same buzz in the pre-draft process as Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders. The Giants devoted an extraordinary amount of time to scouting Sanders, who was so confident he was headed to New York, he displayed custom Giants cleats before playing in Colorado’s bowl game.
The Giants were on track to have the No. 1 pick at that time before a win over the Indianapolis Colts in Week 17 dropped them to third in the draft order. That eliminated the opportunity to land Ward, but they still were in position to take Sanders at No. 3 or No. 25. They passed, and Sanders wasn’t picked in the first round.
The Giants’ enthusiasm about Sanders seemed to wane as the pre-draft process progressed, which coincided with the coaches getting more involved. There have been reports Daboll wasn’t enamored with Sanders, while a league source indicated this week that Dart was the coach’s preferred quarterback.
“When we went through the process and we ranked them, this is how we had them ranked, and (with) Jaxson, we felt the value matched up with where we saw the player,” Schoen said.
Despite the reservations about Schoen and Daboll after the team has combined to go 9-25 over the past two seasons, ownership has demonstrated its support of the regime. Ownership gave the green light to make a massive investment in money and draft assets for Stafford. And Schoen was able to wield future picks in the draft trade proposals — reportedly a 2026 first-round pick for Ward and the 2026 third-round pick for Dart.
Schoen and Daboll got the support they needed to turn things around in their fourth season. Now they just need to be right that Dart is the quarterback capable of leading that turnaround.
(Photos of Abdul Carter and Jaxson Dart: Scott Taetsch and Justin Ford / Getty Images)
