6 hours Ago By Paul Schwartz
Jaxson Dart had better get ready. Brian Daboll is coming for him. When he least expects it, Dart will be thrust onto the field to take a rep in training camp this summer.
He will be observing the starters out there and, knowing he is working with the third-team offense, there is no reason for Dart to be asked to go in to replace Russell Wilson. But that is what will happen, not often, but sometimes. The rookie will not be able to get too comfortable watching and learning because Daboll likes to knock the comfort out of his quarterbacks.
“Maybe you’ll see him in there, sprinkle him in when he doesn’t even know he’s supposed to go in there— just to see how he reacts being in a different atmosphere,’’ Daboll said. “He won’t know when or why.’’ It is obvious this plan is invigorating for Daboll.
He has a stable veteran in Wilson, the starter. He has a less stable but more fun veteran in Jameis Winston, the backup. And, most significantly, he has a 21-year old to teach and mold and grow, someone the Giants invested in by trading up into the first round to take at No.
25 in the draft. There is no pressure and no plan to play Dart right away. The determination that Dart is worth all this time and effort was reached after an exhaustive quarterback investigation process — one the Giants entrusted Daboll to spearhead to its conclusion, given his breadth of experience working with the position.
Daboll and Schoen implemented a system 14 years in the making, created in 2011, when Daboll was in his first year as the Dolphins offensive coordinator and the head coach, the late Tony Sparano, asked Daboll for a plan to evaluate the quarterbacks in that draft. Schoen, in his fourth year as a Dolphins national scout, got a front-row seat as Daboll put his plan into action. That plan did not lead to a quarterback that year.
In 2018, Daboll and Schoen were together in Buffalo and that plan landed Josh Allen. It is safe to assume that Allen’s instant success and status as a top-tier player vaulted the careers of Schoen and Daboll to where they are now with the Giants. Daboll has great confidence in his ability to evaluate the player and the person when it comes to quarterbacks.
He does not, though, try to portray his system as some sort of be-all and end-all. “A lot of guys evaluate — it’s not the right or wrong way,’’ Daboll said. “We do a variety of different things with these players.
Put them in a lot of different situations, no different than I’m sure a lot of teams do. You just got to try to check off the boxes with the things you ask them to do and touch points and people that you talk to.’’ Daboll’s grilling of quarterbacks was revealed in last year’s offseason “Hard Knocks’’ when he hit Jayden Daniels with a barrage of rapid-fire questions during his meeting with the Giants.
Daboll’s fast-paced football jargon was designed to confuse or fluster Daniels, who was nonplussed. Alas, Daniels went to the Commanders. Daboll went through the same paces with the quarterbacks in this year’s draft.
The only one he could not get was Cam Ward, who went No. 1 to the Titans. The Giants had their pick of all the others and went with Dart.
“Did a really good job throughout this process of our meetings, board work, workouts and the tape that we liked,’’ Daboll said. “He’s got a lot to learn. It’ll be a process here with him.
But he’s a guy we look forward to working with.’’ Daboll did this with Allen as a rookie with the Bills. The idea was to have Allen sit and wait, but that was altered when it was determined rather quickly — one game — that Nathan Peterman wasn’t the answer.
Allen became the starter in Week 2. That is not anticipated with Dart. Daboll acknowledged this situation is “a little bit unique’’ because Wilson and Winston are new to the team and thus they need plenty of snaps to get acclimated to the offense.
The only returning quarterback is Tommy DeVito. “He has pretty good familiarity for what we need to do,’’ Daboll said. Daboll, along with offensive coordinator Mike Kafka and quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney, will oversee Dart’s evolution from novice to .
.. whatever he becomes.
There will be after-practice sessions for Dart to get extra work. “That will be an important plan for Jax,’’ Daboll said. “I look forward to executing that plan with him.
’’ There is no rush, but also no time to waste..
