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 – This was the first conversation between Brian Daboll and Jaxson Dart as head coach and quarterback of the New York Giants, and there was no denying the connection made in the three months since their initial meeting in Mobile, Alabama.
Moments after Dart was officially selected with the 25th overall pick in the NFL Draft, as he stepped away from his celebration with friends and family, the pomp and circumstance quieted down enough for this reality to set in.
“I’m banking on you,” Daboll told Dart, in the midst of a congratulatory phone call from the Giants. “You got me?”
To which the rookie quarterback replied: “Smart man.”
Any validation of that sentiment with respect to Dart will depend on his ability to back up those words, of course.
Because the Giants were in desperate need of a reboot at quarterback this season, there’s no debate about that, and the arrivals of Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston certainly represented a personality implant of epic proportions.
How that’ll play on the field remains to be seen as the Giants move into the second half of their spring workouts with all eyes on the quarterbacks. Wilson is the starter with Winston and Tommy DeVito also having started games in this league, and as Winston said back in March: “This team is looking for a complete paradigm shift.”
That will only prove successful – both in the short and long term – if the Giants get this quarterback puzzle right, on and off the field.
And make no mistake: Dart represents the future, that’s undeniable. How quickly he can emerge as a legitimate option for this team as presently constituted will set a tone for this season and beyond.
No matter how well Wilson plays, regardless of what Winston and DeVito do, it’ll take a massive upset for any of the three to stand in Dart’s way once he’s ready, whenever that may be.
And Daboll knows this, which is why the dance between the development and eventual deployment of a 21-year-old quarterback is a delicate one.
Dart might not play a down for the Giants this season. There’s also a chance he starts much sooner than anticipated.
Embrace this as Big Blue reality, which remains a mystery because of what we know and what we don’t.
Daboll and Dart hit it off essentially from jump, and that rapport became more obvious once Dart represented himself extremely well during his “30” visit to New Jersey just three days after the Scouting Combine.
Daboll liked his moxie, his intelligence and his swagger; Dart sensed something special from a coach who talks and teaches the game to quarterbacks like he plays it.
In the weeks that followed, Daboll wound up texting with Dart a lot. His engagement with the player the Giants would select as their franchise quarterback came relatively easy during the pre-draft evaluation process.
Because of those interactions, the Ole Miss star was gaining confidence in just how much Daboll respected his game, loved his intangibles. Everything seemed to mesh with his personality and a plan for how he could reach new heights in the NFL with the Giants.
So Dart started to let himself believe in what became reality: he was going to be a Giant.
But the truth is: he did not know for certain, and neither did Daboll. And then the guy Dart wanted as his next head coach essentially ghosted him. The communication just stopped, and there was really no explanation.
Just part of the dance, Dart tried to convince himself, and he was eventually proven correct.
Dart fought the temptation to envision himself as a Giant, just as Daboll resisted the hope to start working with him as his quarterback because of the fickle nature of the draft.
All that ended on the draft night phone call when Daboll and Dart embraced the challenge they now share.
A year ago, the Giants seemingly accepted their fate at quarterback.
They tried to trade up in the NFL Draft for Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye – as much as they could with teams that had no desire to move – but to no avail. They wanted Tyrod Taylor back in free agency, but instead got Drew Lock.
They did not entirely believe in Daniel Jones, yet because of the money they had already invested in him, their Hail Mary of a choice involved giving Jones one final chance to bounce back. He did not, was benched and then released at his request in early November.
Hope is not a plan, as team brass learned the hard way last season.
The Giants used three different quarterbacks in Daboll’s second season and four last season en route to a three-win campaign.
“They went from milquetoast to Fireball [whiskey],” which is how one league source described the personality makeover of the Giants’ quarterback room, and that was before Dart became the centerpiece.
Dart has signed his fully guaranteed, four-year, $17 million contract, including a signing bonus of $9 million and a fifth-year option, two individuals with knowledge of the financial details told NorthJersey.com and The Record.
Wilson is on a one-year deal worth $10.5 million with incentives. Winston is on a two-year deal worth $8 million. DeVito is on a one-year non-guaranteed deal worth $1 million.
Wilson has the Super Bowl ring and the resume that’s hard to ignore. He’s also on his third team in three years, and at 36 years old, while he still carries himself as he once did, there are questions if his game is enough to get this team into contention against the Eagles, Commanders and Cowboys in the NFC East.
Winston and DeVito are not what you would call fade-into-the-background players, given the way each connects with various corners of the locker room.
Sure, the defense is what should give the Giants their identity in 2025 with the addition of prized rookie Abdul Carter to a front led by Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux.
The timeframe is uncertain, given the complicated schedule by which Daboll and the coaches must operate.
If this were only about the maturation of Dart, that’d be challenging enough. Now consider that will be happening at the same time Daboll and his staff must dedicate time and effort to the entire team, especially on the heels of a three-win season with the urgency to be ready to compete.
So we’ll chart plays during passing drills, highlighting what Dart does in an attempt to assess how far he has come.
“As a competitor, you see yourself as the best any time you step on the field,” Dart said. “I think if you don’t see it that way, especially as a quarterback, the team is not going to believe in you at the highest level.”
This is where he believes he was meant to be, the pressure of being the next QB of the Giants and everything that comes with that expectation is part of the job.
“What we’re looking for from him is to grow each and every day with a positive mindset,” Daboll said. “I think he has the tools physically and mentally to do that.”
One day in the future, the Giants will expect Dart to be their starting quarterback, the face of the franchise and the player to whom an entire locker room looks when the chips are down.
That day is not today or next week. Whether we’re any closer to that in two months when training camp begins, at some point in the regular season or not until 2026, it’s really up to Dart and how he handles everything that’ll be thrown his way.
“You’re where you’re supposed to be,” Daboll told Dart in that draft night conversation.
And now that Jaxson Dart is here, his presence is going to be impossible to anyone – Daboll included – to ignore.