Meet the NY Giants’ 2025 NFL Draft class, player-by-player
Who did the Giants pick in the 2025 NFL Draft? Meet each player from the class, starting with top picks Abdul Carter and Jaxson Dart.
EAST RUTHERFORD – There was so much attention given to the first impression Jaxson Dart would make in his first full day as a quarterback with the New York Giants.
So we needed to know: what was Dart’s first impression of New Jersey, his new NFL home in the shadow of New York City as what the Giants hope he will become: the face of the franchise and its next star quarterback?
“I was stunned: they don’t let you pump your own gas,” Dart said as he walked away from his initial in-person interview session Friday afternoon following the first of two practice sessions this weekend at rookie camp.
When told by NorthJersey.com and The Record that he might welcome that when winter rolls around, Dart quipped with a smile: “Yeah, I can get with that – for sure.”
And if Dart’s first impressions from rookie camp are any indication, the Giants are going to have zero issues getting with that, too.
This was where Dart believes he was meant to be, and he’s continued to say as much. We have seen his interactions with coach Brian Daboll, with fellow first-round pick Abdul Carter, and the pressure of being the next quarterback of the Giants and everything that comes with that expectation is an accepted component.
You don’t walk through the lobby doors of one of the NFL’s flagship franchises without noticing the four Vince Lombardi trophies intentionally placed in the display case to the left. But even with Dart echoing Carter’s “chasing greatness” promise, he has not brought up the pursuit of championships or adding a fifth Lombardi to the case.
There seems to be an understanding that the true measure of whether Dart can live up to what the Giants believe he will become is going to be directly tied to how he performs on game day when he eventually takes over as QB1.
For now, the appreciation for what the 21-year-old Dart represents to those around him is significant.
What we saw and heard from Dart was impressive as he took the field for the first time since being drafted.
The former Ole Miss star was confident, comfortable and in command, and that entire portrait was earned seemingly every step of the way. He appeared poised and accurate, and certainly had enough juice in his arm, including on a crosser through traffic to Notre Dame’s Beaux Collins and a pair to Louisiana’s Dalen Cambre.
Here’s my take on Dart, and it’s meant as the highest of compliments:
He’s not here to wear Russell Wilson’s jersey as he once did as a kid in Utah, cheering him on from the sideline, or to create content by cracking jokes with Jameis Winston for the Giants’ social media team.
Dart may not be QB1 yet, but it’s his goal to be QB1 – and it’s evident that starts now.
With two of the best defensive players in team history in attendance, Michael Strahan and Carl Banks, and there’s no doubt they were present to appreciate Carter’s presence, the quarterback wearing No. 6 – for now – garnered some of that attention.
When will Dart become the Giants’ starting quarterback? It’s going to be a play-to-play, day-to-day evaluation and assessment of where he stands, and then decisions will be made accordingly.
Rookie camp began Thursday night and runs through the weekend, and it is not always the greatest barometer for NFL success. Eli Manning’s first impression in the earliest stage of his Super Bowl MVP career, twice over, left many wondering if the Giants had made a colossal mistake.
The first pass Manning threw as a Giant at rookie camp in 2004 sailed well beyond his intended target and bounced off a blocking sled. Just remember what co-owner and team president John Mara told NorthJersey.com and The Record in 2014: “It was a very windy day out on the grass practice field that we had, and he threw the ball so poorly that day [during rookie camp], I remember feeling physically ill. I was saying to myself, ‘What did we just do?’ I remember feeling quite nauseous just thinking about what we had just done. We laugh about that now.”
Dart had the benefits of practicing indoors in the Giants’ field house due to heavy rains. He was the only draft pick to participate in team drills, and Dart’s first two passes of 7-on-7 were dropped.
He did not flinch, though, and went on to complete his final eight passes, the final one a perfect hole shot to undrafted rookie signee Jordan Bly on a deep crossing route just near the sideline. At rookie camp, Dart is working with a couple of undrafted free agent signings and a group of camp tryouts, many of whom won’t be with the team when the rookies join the veterans in Phase 2 of the offseason training program on Monday.
Still, Dart refused to leave anything to chance. On the bus ride back to the team’s hotel across Route 3 from 1925 Giants Drive, Dart got together with some of his rookie camp teammates and went over the plays they were given for the 7-on-7 periods.
“Made sure that we went through the script and did a walkthrough,” Dart said. “And that made coming out here on the field, the operation a lot smoother and everybody was a lot more confident and was able to play a lot faster when we got to the field. We just talked on the bus on our way back, and I think as the quarterback, you got to make sure that everybody knows what they’re doing. So, I tried to get as many guys as I could together on the offensive side of the ball and go through it and teach everybody, making sure that we’re all on the same page.”
There will be no pressure to play the rookie – until there is, and that can come in a variety of ways, including team brass feeling the need to show ownership that Dart represents a big reason for optimism beyond this season.
When training camp arrives in late July, Dart should be a different quarterback: even more confident, surer of his game and where he fits. The expectation will be to impress the coaches and the front office with every snap he takes. That goes for his teammates, too, and they are already taking notice.
Running back Cam Skattebo, impressive in his own right, did not hesitate in calling Dart one of the smartest players he has been around. They’ve been in each other’s company for two days, so a reporter wanted to know: Why?
“I mean, coaches say things and if you answer it fast and right, that’s hard to do, especially with the nerves and everything that rack up as a rookie,” Scattebo said. “The head coach asks you a question and you know the answer like that, you’re into your books and you’re very smart. Just talking to [Dart] about football, and certain routes and play calls, and just hearing him hear a call one time and being able to call it multiple times, back to back, it’s just something that he does well. I can’t wait to continue to see what he does.”
Dart will have plenty of chances to send a message to Daboll and the rest of the team much sooner than anticipated, of course. He needs to prove from jump he is listening and learning, and that he is not afraid of taking a risk when the right play is there to be made.
There will be mistakes – but make no mistake, Dart does not seem daunted by the challenge facing him here.
And he wants the Giants to know that, regardless of what the depth chart may say at the moment, there is no mistaking the job he is here to do, whenever that might end up becoming reality.
“I’m a competitor, so I’m going to come to work each and every day and do my best to make everybody around me better,” Dart said. “I understand what the situation is, but for me, I care about winning. There’s nothing fun about losing. So it doesn’t matter where you’re at on the depth chart, if you’re playing this much or not playing this much, if you’re losing, it sucks. So, for me, I want to make the team better, and that’s my focus.”
And that was plenty obvious from what Jaxson Dart showed the Giants as his NFL career gets underway.