The New York Giants have made the decision to keep rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart on the bench for Week 1. Despite having a successful preseason, the 2025 first-round pick will start his NFL career off the bench. That's not entirely surprising: plenty of rookies came off the bench in their first games.
It seems like the door is not fully closed on Dart making his first NFL appearance in Week 1, though. Connor Hughes of SNY noted that the Giants have some plays installed in their playbook for Dart. This seems to indicate that New York is ready to send Dart out during the game for a few plays, at least.
“It seems like the Giants might just have a package of plays for rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart to make his debut and contribute to this team's offensive effort on Sunday,” Hughes said. “And there's a reason why that would happen. Dart was widely impressive in OTAs and minicamp and training camp. He was even more impressive than widely impressive in the preseason.”
The Giants are set to face off against the Washington Commanders on Sunday for their first game of the NFL season. They have already previously announced that veteran Russell Wilson will start the game, with Dart coming off the bench as the primary backup. Most backups don't see the field at all during the game, rookie or not. That being said, teams have sometimes sent their backup QB out for one or two plays to run something specifically designed for them.
Dart was drafted by the Giants in the first round, trading back into the first round to take the quarterback. During the preseason, the Giants rookie completed 68.1% of his passing attempts, accruing 324 yards over three preseason games. Even with a good preseason, though, New York prefers to have the quarterback sit out and learn the ropes from the bench.
