Giants rookie QB Jaxson Dart on what he did during the bye week
Jaxson Dart talks about watching Bills-Bengals during the Giants’ Week 14 bye week and taking things from QBs Josh Allen and Joe Burrow.
NEW YORK – Last Saturday night, Fernando Mendoza introduced himself to the football world and the NFL landscape by leading the Indiana Hoosiers to their first Big Ten championship since 1967.
Here’s this prized quarterback, aspiring national champion and the sport’s hottest draft prospect having arrived in the Big Apple for the Heisman Trophy festivities ready for his moment.
Mendoza certainly has the journey to stardom that will make you buy into his story: two-star recruit out of high school, overlooked to the point where his best offer was to Yale until Cal lost a prospect and came in at the 11th hour with a scholarship offer he could not refuse.
His transfer to Indiana last winter, for the most part, went under the national radar until a breakout season landed Mendoza here.
And now his future commands the bright lights of the biggest city as Mendoza awaits his next crowning achievement, the favorite to walk away as the latest Heisman winner with so much more on the table.
The New York Giants are currently projected to hold the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, but they already have an impressive rookie quarterback in Jaxson Dart. Meanwhile, for the 48th year since Joe Namath departed for Los Angeles, the New York Jets are still searching for one.
What would it be like for the Giants to not only pass on Mendoza because of Dart, which seems very plausible, but by doing so, they’d potentially set up the Jets with their QB for the next generation?
It’s a draft-night decision that could change both franchises forever with Mendoza as the prize linking them together. Teams have dealt the No. 1 pick only 12 times since the league’s merger, most recently three drafts ago when the Carolina Panthers sent two first round picks, two second round picks and a player to the Chicago Bears for the chance to select Bryce Young.
The Giants and Jets have picked back-to-back in the Top 5 twice within the last eight years, including second and third in the 2019 NFL Draft that ultimately added some juice to an on-and-off rivalry.
This scenario has a chance to reach the level of the back-and-forth from the 2019 NFL Draft when the Jets posted a photo on social media depicting a trio of Jets fans wearing t-shirts that read: “Thank You Giants.”
The backhanded pleasantries included a cartoon of Sam Darnold, whom the Jets selected to be their franchise quarterback the previous year. That was made possible when the Giants passed on Darnold with the second overall pick, instead taking Saquon Barkley.
Such a move this year, if the Giants find themselves ahead of the Jets – which isn’t a lock given how the former’s schedule lightens up over the final four games – would come with a healthy price tag.
The Jets are not the only ones expected to be in the market for Mendoza with the Raiders and Cardinals also possibilities. The Rams could enter the picture as well, even with Matthew Stafford playing at an NFL MVP level at age 37, because remember, they hold Atlanta’s first rounder, which is currently ninth.
This is Dart’s chance to make a statement about the Giants’ future, four more games for the rookie make good on all the promise he has shown in an otherwise lost season. If the Giants part ways with general manager Joe Schoen, after firing coach Brian Daboll last month, would that change anything in terms of expectations for Dart within the organization?
Sure, it’s easy to say a new regime will believe in Dart’s potential and talent, and they should. Giants ownership has to be pleased with what the former Ole Miss star has done for this team.
But what if a new GM and/or a new head coach were to fall in love with Mendoza? Can we be certain the Giants would not stick and pick the QB at No. 1 if the opportunity is there to pick a new guy for the new guys?
There are no guarantees, and if co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch and their families choose to clean house, they must also be willing to accept a clean slate if that’s where these decisions take them.
This is the NFL, and although such a scenario is improbable and doesn’t make sense given what Dart has brought to Big Blue, stranger and more unexpected things have happened in the league.
So that brings us back to Mendoza, who will take center stage not just in the Times Square spotlight this weekend, but in the Hoosiers’ quest to complete their storybook run to a national championship.
The Jets and the Giants are going to be invested to see how his next few months play out.
For different reasons, of course, but at the end of the day, Mendoza’s ascension could end up impacting the best interest of both Gang Green and Big Blue when his name is called on draft night in late April.