Former No. 2 Pick Slams Giants' Shocking Plan to Draft Jaxson Dart — Is New York Making a Huge Mistake?

Trading back into the first round of the 2025 NFL draft to get their potential quarterback of the future, Jaxson Dart, earned the New York Giants plenty of praise, but not everybody agreed with the strategy, with a former No. 2 pick leading the criticism.

Robert Griffin III was the subject of a loaded trade in 2012 that sent him to play for the Giants’ NFC East rivals in Washington. The former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year pulled no punches after the Giants engineered a three-pick deal to jump back into Round 1 and take Dart 25th overall this year.

RGIII posted the following tirade shortly after the pick was made on Thursday, April 25: “The New York Giants have no idea what they are doing at QB. Signed Jameis Winston only to sign Russell Wilson to start over him and then drafted a Rookie QB who will get minimal reps in his redshirt year behind those 2. Lord have mercy.”

If that read as harsh and reactionary to some, Griffin wasn’t the only one baffled by the Giants’ QB plan. Specifically, by general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll feeling the need to deal away picks to acquire Dart, when the rest of the board showed other QB-needy teams were able to sit tight and wait for a passer to fall their way after the opening round.

Giants Still Taking Heat for Jaxson Dart Reach

Griffin accused the Giants of muddled thinking based on making drafting a quarterback a first-round priority after signing two passers in free agency. His criticism was less about Dart than the thinking behind his selection.

It’s a different story for The 33rd Team’s Ian Valentino. He considers former Ole Miss star Dart a reach because “without a cannon for an arm, high-level processing ability, and struggles when under pressure, Dart was a prototypical Day 2 flier.”

Valentino also took exception to the Giants feeling a trade was even necessary. He cited the Cleveland Browns waiting until the fifth round to send the name of Shedeur Sanders to the podium: “Add in that Shedeur Sanders was taken in the fifth round, and it’s hard to view the Dart trade as necessary. Cleveland waited it out, and there’s not another team picking after Minnesota that was interested.”

Sanders was a prospect who had apparently split opinion among Giants decision-makers. He was also said to be unprepared during a crucial pre-draft visit with Daboll.

Perhaps the Giants had good reason for passing on Sanders, but he wasn’t the only draft QB they could’ve waited to take. There was also Tyler Shough, who went 40th overall to the New Orleans Saints, six picks after the Giants would have been on the clock in Round 2, had they not traded for Dart.

Shough was somebody who’d piqued the Giants interest before the draft, but Schoen and Daboll instead kept their sights on Dart. It might have looked like an act of desperation, but others are convinced the Giants did what they had to do to get the QB they wanted.

Giants Had Incentive to Make Jaxson Dart Trade

Although Valentino thinks the Giants could have waited, ESPN’s Jordan Raanan reported “the Browns (not the Rams) were a concern. They were the team others around the league connected to Dart.”

If the Browns were ready to move, Schoen did the right thing to get into position to take Dart first. Especially since the 21-year-old looks like a fit for what Daboll covets at football’s most important position.

Raanan’s colleague Peter Schrager told The Pat McAfee Show (h/t ESPN College Football) the Giants had inside knowledge that kept Dart top of their list: “Charlie Weiss’ kid called the plays, Daboll knows him inside and out. Joe Judge is down there. Joe Schoen’s daughter goes to Ole Miss. Joe Schoen has been around Ole Miss football for two years. This one is something that they’ve always had in their back pocket, a guy that they have always liked.”

Having so much insight into Dart makes the Giants best placed to judge if trading picks was a smart move. Ultimately, it will only look that way if Dart is starting a year from now and playing like a would-be franchise passer.