Jaxson Dart set for preseason debut with Giants

It is safe to say if not for Josh Allen, Brian Daboll would not be the head coach of the Giants and Joe Schoen would not be the general manager.

Daboll and Schoen spent years riding the NFL merry-go-round and earned promotions into the jobs they desired with the Bills — Daboll was offensive coordinator, Schoen was assistant GM.

That shared success in Buffalo certainly was instigated by Bills general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott, yet there is no doubt that the arrival of Allen was the catalyst for all the winning that followed and greatly helped Daboll and Schoen attain their present positions.

That is the way with a star player.

He elevates everyone around him.

And so it is no surprise that not long after the Giants traded up into the first round of the 2025 draft to select Jaxson Dart, Daboll made sure to connect Dart and Allen.

“I talked to Josh a few days after I got drafted and he’s been somebody who I’ve really looked up to,’’ Dart said. “And since coming here, just watching a ton of his tape and how he was able to operate Coach Dabes’ system. It’s going to be kind of a surreal feeling to be on the same field as him.’’

Yes, Dart will be on the same field as Allen on Saturday afternoon, as the Giants open up their preseason schedule facing the Bills at Highmark Stadium.

No, these two quarterbacks will not be squaring off against each other.

The Bills will play many of their starters, but Allen will sit this one out and watch from the sideline.

Daboll has not revealed much about how he will deploy his personnel, but he did make sure to confirm that Dart will play.

The way Allen advanced as a 2018 first-round pick (No. 7 overall) is ideal player development, the way every team wants it to work when it makes a commitment on the presumed next franchise quarterback.

The plan was not to rush Allen as a rookie, but plans changed and Allen was on the field early and often as the starter.

The plan for Dart as a rookie is to learn and grow, watching veterans Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston for … who knows how long?

No one around the Giants is claiming Dart will be to the Giants what Allen is to the Bills.

Allen exists in rarefied air, one of a handful of truly elite players in the league and the 2024 NFL Most Valuable Player.

Dart has been impressive in his first summer with the Giants, but he certainly did not outplay Wilson in the first three weeks of camp.

That comes as no surprise.

Wilson is entering his 14th NFL season and Dart is only months removed from finishing up a three-year stay at Ole Miss.

In his conversation with Allen, Dart said the superstar harped on one aspect of playing quarterback more forcefully than any other.

“I think the biggest thing as the quarterback — he talked a lot about leadership,’’ Dart said. “That was kind of like his main thing and then trying to be the best teammate for the guys around you because as a quarterback, you have to raise the standards of everybody.

“Obviously, schematics, I think that what shows up on Coach Dabes’ record is being able to coach many different quarterbacks who have different skill sets and kind of molding offenses around what they’re good at, so kind of just hone in on the key details of Coach Dabes’ offense and really trust it. I think at times, maybe quarterbacks will predetermine things and not really trust the system, but the special thing about Coach Dabes is he gives us a ton of freedom so there’s answers to everything that you can really think of.’’

In camp, Dart worked mostly with the second-team offense — Wilson was with the starters and Winston was usually with the third-teamers.

Daboll took the heat off Dart right away, naming Wilson the starter in the spring and reiterating that at the start of camp.

Not that Daboll has taken it easy on the 22-year old NFL novice.

Daboll from time to time, without advance warning, put Dart in with the starters to see how he handled himself in certain situational periods.

“I’d say Jaxson is right on schedule from what we’d expect in terms of just understanding the offense, continuing to grow and learn every day,’’ offensive coordinator Mike Kafka said. “Every day we’re presenting him — not just him but all the quarterbacks — with different situations and some situations you’ve probably never seen before. Those have been good to build off of, whether it’s in two-minute, whether it’s a third-down situation or a certain blitz look that we’re getting, he’s able to kind of grow and learn from those examples and now as he starts banking more and more looks, more and more reps — we do a lot of this throughout the walk-through as well, he can kind of see — now he’s starting to put the picture together a little bit better and cleaner for a rookie.’’