Corner Nic Jones quickly turned his day one interception of Jaxson Dart into a constructive lesson for the Giants’ rookie quarterback.
Jones played his first two NFL seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, so he told Dart how Patrick Mahomes uses his eyes to avoid falling into the trap that Dart had stepped in by telegraphing a pass into the Giants’ zone defense.
“He is just telling me — because he played with Pat — what Pat used to do with him and just kind of manipulate different plays and schemes to make it work,” Dart said Sunday. “I think that when I’m able to hear that, it helps me try to incorporate those things into my game.”
Fortunately Dart, 22, appears to be a fast learner.
His first three days of training camp were up and down, a continuation of the spring, when Dart looked like he was drinking through a firehose while trying to take Brian Daboll’s offense to the field. He nearly threw a second interception on day two that was dropped by corner Tre Hawkins.
But on Sunday, Dart was noticeably better and more comfortable, delivering more decisive passes to the likes of Malik Nabers, Ihmir Smith-Marsette, Beaux Collins, Montrell Washington and Juice Wells Jr.
“It’s just continued growth each and every day,” Dart said. “I can definitely feel a difference … I feel like it slowed down just a little bit. That first day, even a little bit the second day, there were just some plays that I hadn’t really run before. You’re getting mixed in with different groups of guys who you don’t have a ton of reps with, so you’re just trying to get that timing down with everybody.
“But I feel like [Sunday], going into it, I felt confident in the different installs that we had, and I felt at the same time the coaches gave me a lot of freedom,” he continued. “So I was able to make some checks that I wanted to, and I feel like that just allowed me to play just faster and be able to make quicker decisions.”
Dart so far has been Daboll’s clear early No. 2 on the depth chart behind Russell Wilson, with veteran Jameis Winston taking a back seat for the time being. And he’s taken advantage of the opportunity more each day.
On Friday, he stepped in at the end of a strong Winston drive to throw a touchdown pass to rookie running back Cam Skattebo. On Sunday, his completion percentage skyrocketed.
And on Monday, he laced an early throw up the middle of the field to Zach Pascal for a 15-yard completion in tight coverage, plus another 15-yard penalty on the defense for a facemask on the receiver.
“Yeah, I don’t want to play like a robot. I think that’s just my play style,” Dart said of his willingness to be aggressive. “When I’m on the field, I’m going to be aggressive in any situation. A quote that we go by in the quarterback room is being aggressive but not reckless. So when you have opportunities to put the dagger in, that’s what you got to do. And at the same time, you can’t be reckless. And it’s just situational based as an offense.”
Dart understands mistakes will happen, but he doesn’t like making them. He told Daboll “I wish we had two-a-days” after his first interception to Jones, so he could get back on the field and correct it.
“Something that I take pride in is when you make a mistake, try not to make that same mistake again,” Dart said. “I understand I’m going to make mistakes, but I’m excited for the next opportunity trying to get better.”
It sounds like every conversation that Dart has with his coaches and teammates is helping him get better. The results are starting to show on the field.
That has the arrow pointing up on the Giants’ rookie QB early in camp.
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