The New York Giants are hoping to draft a quarterback early in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft. However, picking No. 3 overall, the top two quarterback prospects could both be off the board by the time the Giants are on the clock. In that scenario, the Giants need to have a backup plan, and one recent report indicates they already do.
Giants reportedly view Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart as QB3
Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders are the consensus top-two quarterback prospects in this draft class. The Giants would ideally like to draft one of those two prospects with the third-overall pick in the draft. However, the Tennessee Titans are picking first overall and the Cleveland Browns are picking second overall — both are quarterback-needy teams. Ward and Sanders could both come off the board in the first two selections.
In that scenario, who would be the Giants’ next quarterback option? According to Paul Schwartz of the New York Post, the Giants have identified who is their QB3:
“It is believed the Giants at this point view Jaxson Dart as the No. 3 quarterback in this class,” Schwartz reports. “There are questions as to how the offense he directed at Ole Miss prepared Dart for the NFL, as it has been described as something of a 7-on-7 passing attack.”
Dart was initially in a cluster of quarterback prospects behind Ward and Sanders, competing to separate themselves as the QB3 in this draft class. It seems as though Dart has earned that label, beating out the likes of Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, and Ohio State’s Will Howard, among others.
In 2024, Dart threw for 4,279 yards with a 29-6 TD-INT ratio and led the nation with a 180.7 passer rating. Dart was a Senior Bowl Standout. His performance during the practice week at the Senior Bowl propelled him up draft boards.
Where could the Giants draft Dart?
Even though he is seemingly their No. 3 quarterback in the class, the Giants would be unlikely to take Dart with the third-overall pick in the draft. He is viewed as a projected Day 2 prospect who will likely be drafted in the second round. The Giants own the second pick in the second round of the draft (No. 34 overall) where they could take Dart. This plan would open up the possibility of the Giants taking the best prospect available regardless of position in Round 1.
However, the Giants could also aim to draft Dart in Round 1 in order to gain the fifth-year option on his rookie contract. Since they are picking so early in the second-round draft order, a trade-up into the back end of the first round would be relatively inexpensive.
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If the Giants miss out on a quarterback in the first round and take the best player available, that prospect could very well be Penn State EDGE Abdul Carter. Schwartz noted in his article that “it is certainly plausible” that Carter will end up as the No. 1 prospect on the Giants’ draft board.
If that is how the draft unfolds, Carter could be the choice in the first round, giving the Giants an elite pass rusher to inject into their defensive front. Then, Dart could be the selection in Round 2 (or later in Round 2), giving the Giants a high-upside quarterback prospect with the potential to develop into a franchise quarterback.
