Jaxson Dart 'can't wait' for home Giants debut vs. Jets at MetLife Stadium

Pat Leonard, New York Daily News on Aug 15, 2025

Published in Football

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NEW YORK — Jaxson Dart injected life into the Giants’ offense on the road last weekend in Buffalo.

Now he’ll get his first opportunity to fire up his new home crowd.

The Giants’ first-round pick will make his MetLife Stadium debut on Saturday night against the visiting Jets in the teams’ second exhibition tune-up on their shared turf.

“I can’t wait,” Dart, 22, said this week with a smile.

Dart completed 12 of 19 passes for 154 yards and the touchdown in his first preseason action in a 34-25 win over the Bills. He also rushed for 24 yards and quarterbacked three scoring drives in all.

His family was in the stands for that game, but it was nothing like what Saturday will be — playing in front of a starved fan base that is eager to see the Giants’ new franchise quarterback assume his rightful place on the roster.

“My first time going into the stadium was the Zach Bryan concert,” Dart said. “I was just standing there, being able to look at all the great players’ names in the stadium … and trying to picture what a sold-out stadium is going to be like and just the energy involved. I can’t wait.”

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” he added. “I hope that the fans come out and they’re super passionate. I hope that we can make a home field advantage for us. But I can’t wait, and I know that there’s going to be a lot of energy for sure.”

Russell Wilson started the first preseason game and played only one series with the starting offensive line before Dart entered for the game’s second drive with the backups. Dart then played the rest of the first half before Jameis Winston and Tommy DeVito cleaned up late.

It will be interesting to see if head coach Brian Daboll gives Dart even more responsibility and opportunity in this second game against the Jets.

Daboll’s urgency and rhetoric seem to point to the Giants handling this game similarly to the opener, with the starters playing early.

“There’s no substitute for tackling. There’s no substitute for cleaning the pocket. There’s no substitute for run after catch when you’re going to get hit,” Daboll said late this week. “There’s no substitute for being live as a quarterback in the pocket. But we’ll end up deciding at the end of the day what we think is right for our team.”

Even if Wilson starts the game, though, could the Giants’ head coach leave the starting offensive line and skill players in for Dart when the rookie steps in this time?

The Giants aren’t calling this a quarterback battle. They’re doing everything they can to avoid a conversation about it. But Dart’s recent play, his draft status and Wilson’s underwhelming camp all point to Dart inevitably playing early this season barring something unforeseen.

Winston being buried on the depth chart with barely any practice reps also points to the Giants seemingly having little confidence in him or at least no plan to actually play him.

So all eyes are on Dart, the Ole Miss standout whose next step will be to show the home crowd what he’s made of.

“I think the energy’s super high,” Dart said of the fan base. “Everybody’s super hungry to win, and I think that a lot of people feel a certain energy around here. Obviously I haven’t been here, so I don’t know what it’s been like in the past, but I just feel like it’s really positive.”

“I know that we’ve got a group of guys who really want this,” he added. “And we want to compete and play at the highest level. We want to play in the biggest stages and win the biggest games. I think that what I see from the fans is they hold everybody to that standard, and I think that as a competitor you want to be a part of that because ultimately that’s going to push you.

“You want to play for a passionate fan base, and you want to win.”

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