The New York Giants traded up for Jaxson Dart in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft in hopes he can turn into the future of the position in East Rutherford.

While there’s certainly a path of development that needs to take place for the young quarterback out of Ole Miss, it wouldn’t be a surprise at all if his debut came at some point during his rookie season.

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Even though Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston are both expected to begin the season higher on the depth chart than Dart, the rookie’s upside may be too much for head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen to keep on the bench for an entire season.

That notion was echoed by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport recently, who believes it’s a matter of when — not if — in terms of Dart starting.

“It is clear that this is Brian Daboll’s guy. After years and years of running out not his guy, he now gets his guy. I expect Russell Wilson to take the first snap with the first team in the first game for the Giants,” Rapoport said. “You listen to everything Brian Daboll says, you get an understanding of how far along Jaxson Dart is and where you think he’s going to go. It’s clearly a matter of when, not if.

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Meanwhile, during an appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show,” Daniel Jeremiah made his prediction for when Dart will take over the starting role.

“Look at that Week 6-to-Week 7, 10-day gap there after the Thursday night game against Philly, which by the way, with that group in Philadelphia, I’d be okay with him missing that game,” Jeremiah said. “But that’s kind of where it would be. It would at Denver in Week 7. That’s my early prediction.”

Though that seems a bit early for Dart, anything can happen when a team is coming off a 3-14 season and used a first-round pick on a quarterback prospect.

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Because both Daboll and Schoen are on the hot seat before the season even begins, it’s fair to assume they will use Dart’s debut as their final move to save their jobs if things continue to trend the way they have over the last few seasons.

It wouldn’t be an outlandish scenario for Dart to make that early of a debut, but the Giants could also wait until after the Week 14 bye to give the reins to the rookie for the entire final month of the season.

Either way, it seems to be increasingly likely that Dart will make his debut at some point in 2025.

This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: NFL insider: Matter of when, not if Jaxson Dart will start for Giants