Jaxson Dart would benefit from Giants making trade for wide receiver
New Orleans Saints wide receiver Chris Olave pulls in a long pass play past Chicago Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson in the first half of an NFL game Sunday in Chicago. Credit: AP/Erin Hooley
Before scoring the go-ahead touchdown late in the loss to the Broncos last week on a gritty run from the 1, Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart was looking for points with more style.
Earlier in that drive, he threw a deep pass down the middle, but it was just beyond the reach of Jalin Hyatt. Then, after the Giants converted a fourth-and-19, he took a shot on a post route to Beaux Collins. That was broken up. Finally, on the play that brought them to the 1, on a third-and-10, Dart tried to hit Collins at the pylon. The receiver managed to draw a pass-interference penalty against Denver but not the catch-and-score that was the intent of the play.
Go back to the Saints game earlier this month, too. Deep pass to Darius Slayton that was dropped. Another deep one on a flea-flicker that Slayton didn’t come back for as well as he should have.
The one area of his game in which Dart is not excelling as a rookie quarterback is when he tries to stretch the field. According to NFL’s Next Gen Stats, Dart has completed only two of his 16 passes that have traveled at least 20 yards in the air. That is the second-lowest completion percentage on such throws in the league.
That obviously is something he needs to work on. It’s something the Giants need to work on, too.
As the Nov. 4 trade deadline approaches, they need to remember what their main objective this season is and what it is not.
Super Bowl? No, although that certainly would be lovely.
Playoffs? Nope, although that would be nice.
Winning games? Sure, but there is something else that needs to be placed above that, even.
Developing the quarterback so all those other things start to come into reach next year and beyond? Bingo!
That is why they should not let their record preclude them from being buyers, especially in the wide receiver market.
Dart already has to spend the rest of this season without Malik Nabers. He’s spent the past two games without Slayton. He’s making these downfield throws to tight ends and wideouts who are fringe players on the roster. Collins and Lil’Jordan Humphrey are great stories, but they are not great players. And they are not helping Dart in any way.
The Giants need to get him a legitimate deep target, a proven NFL difference-maker, so his growth in the second half of this season does not become stagnant.
“Those plays downfield, I think the quarterback, he makes that decision, and I support it,” offensive coordinator Mike Kafka said of Dart’s attempts. “He’s going downfield to be aggressive. He has a reason for it. That’s going back to the trust level with your quarterback and with your group.”
The Giants trust Dart, there is no doubt about that. Now Dart needs someone he can truly trust.
That would have been much easier to argue for had the Giants won in Denver. A victory there would have set up a clash with the Eagles this Sunday with the division title and a potential edge in the wide-open NFC race all ahead of them.
But even if they lose in Philadelphia, even if they lose at home next week to the 49ers and drop to 2-7, they owe it to Dart’s future to try to add an exciting outside player to whom he can throw the ball . . . and who has a good chance of coming down with it.
Even if it is a rental for the next few weeks, a pending free agent who may or may not stick around into 2026, the Giants should go for it. Maybe a few months with Dart will convince someone to stay.
So who is available? This year there seem to be several receivers who can be pried from their current rosters. Chris Olave of the Saints, Jakobi Meyers of the Raiders and Jaylen Waddle of the Dolphins are three of the most recognizable names. Christian Kirk of the Texans and Rashid Shaheed of the Saints also could be available. Calvin Ridley would be an ideal player for them, but the Titans are unlikely to trade the one reliable target they have for their own rookie quarterback.
The Giants only recently made a personnel move to adjust for the loss of Nabers to a torn ACL nearly a month ago; they added Ray-Ray McCloud III to their practice squad this week after he was waived by the Falcons. Giants coach Brian Daboll worked with McCloud in Buffalo, so the two know each other. Maybe McCloud can start to get to know Dart quickly, too.
“I think LJ has done a good job,” Daboll said of Humphrey, who has been a practice squad call-up on the past two game days. “We’ve asked Wan’Dale [Robinson] to do a lot of different things and he’s really done a nice job for us. And we’ve used more tight ends. We’ve probably used more tight ends than we have in the past few years, and they’ve done a nice job for us. So we’re spreading the ball around.”
That’s nice in a pinch, but the Giants need long-term help for Dart.
“We’ll see what happens here,” Daboll said of other additions.
In an ideal Giants world, at this time next year, Dart will be firing deep passes to Nabers for long scoring plays and acrobatic leaping catches in traffic. And in that world, the Giants are contenders for the postseason, possibly even more.
This year none of that seems to be happening. That’s OK, as long as the Giants keep sight of the organizational ambitions for 2025.
It’s about Dart. That’s all. He’s quickly outgrowing his current playmakers, and it’s time for the Giants to bring in someone who will challenge him to grow and become even better.
The 2026 and 2027 versions of Dart and the Giants will thank you.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
