Giants’ top 10 most important players: No. 1 — QB Jaxson Dart
Hiring John Harbaugh to be their head coach is the most important thing the New York Giants did this offseason, perhaps the most important thing they have done in a long time. Now, the most important thing Harbaugh and his coaching staff have to do is put Jaxson Dart in the best possible position to become the quarterback his 2025 rookie season hinted he could be.
Dart is, of course, No. 1 on our list of ‘most important Giants players of 2026’. Was there ever any doubt he would top the list?
AdvertisementAdvertisementThe Giants are in the same place entering this season as they were with Daniel Jones in 2020.
Jones was drafted sixth overall in 2019 to be the heir to Eli Manning as franchise quarterback. The Giants traded up last year to select Dart 25th overall — hopefully to be what Jones eventually proved he could not be. That, of course, is a top-tier quarterback who could lead the Giants out of the losing cycle they have been in since the 2011 Super Bowl.
Like Dart, Jones showed a ton of promise in 2019. He threw 24 touchdown passes, still his career high. He was intercepted just 12 times. He had an acceptable 87.7 passer rating. He showed the ability to make plays with his legs. His primary issue, aside from learning to handle the complexities of the position at the NFL level, was a propensity to fumble too often.
After that season, Jones did help the Giants get to the playoffs and win a game there in 2022, but things really went sideways. Injuries, coaching changes, a weak supporting cast, and poor play all led the Giants to move on from Jones midseason in 2024 and start over with Dart last season.
AdvertisementAdvertisementWhich way will things go with Dart?
Harbaugh has done the quarterback development thing before. The first player the Baltimore Ravens drafted after Harbaugh became head coach in 2008 was Joe Flacco. The Ravens won a Super Bowl with Flacco in 2012. Many doubted Lamar Jackson’s ability to be a franchise quarterback. Baltimore drafted him 32nd overall in 2018. He has won two MVPs and been a three-time All-Pro.
Harbaugh did not win a Super Bowl in eight seasons with Jackson. Still, he gets credit for helping both Flacco and Jackson develop into the players they became.
Harbaugh loves to talk about traits. There are traits a quarterback needs, but no magic formula for how to maximize those traits and get a quarterback — or any player — to reach his potential.
AdvertisementAdvertisement“Well, to me it starts with the ability to make plays,” Harbaugh said at the NFL Scouting Combine when I asked him about developing quarterbacks. “Your quarterback, you watch all the games, you’ll see the quarterback is making a difference one way or another. So it just takes an exceptional level of talent, play-making ability, awareness, grit, all those different things.
“Sometimes it’s arm strength, sometimes it’s accuracy, sometimes it’s almost always the ability to get out of the pocket and make a play. So all those things that Jackson has that I’m excited about, it’ll be fun. It’ll be fun to get with him and do it one more time.”
Dart showed many good things as a rookie. Among them:
Leadership
Moxie
Ability to make off-platform plays
Enough arm to make every throw
Ability, willingness to make plays with his legs
The list of things Dart needs to improve upon is fairly typical for a young quarterback:
AdvertisementAdvertisementDeveloping more patience in the pocket. Per Pro Football Focus, Dart led the league in self-inflicted pressure last season, indicating a lack of trust in what he saw.
-
Learning more about reading defenses, getting to his second and third reads, and throwing with anticipation.
Working from under center and throwing off play-action. PFF data places him among the worst quarterbacks in the league while using play action in 2025.
Making “mature decisions” while running with the ball. Dart has talked about this, knowing he needs to protect himself.
His deep ball accuracy wasn’t impressive statistically. It was, though, hurt by four drops in 50 throws of 20 or more yards.
Nick Baumgardner of The Athletic recently took a fascinating look at the things Dart did well in 2025 and the areas where he needs to improve.
When I read Baumgardner’s piece, I can boil it down to this: As talented as he is, Dart is a young player who needs to learn more about playing quarterback, so he has to rely less on his athleticism. I made the point earlier that I see this as typical of a young quarterback.
Brian Daboll banged the table for the Giants to select Dart a year ago. Much was made of Daboll’s reputation for working with young quarterbacks, deserved or not, and the Dart-Daboll relationship seemed to be a good one. Daboll, though, got fired. There is a lot more to being a head coach than dealing with the quarterback.
Now, Harbaugh and his staff are in charge of shepherding Dart’s development.
AdvertisementAdvertisementHarbaugh has put a veteran staff around Dart. Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy worked with Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City and had success with Mitchell Trubisky in Chicago. Quarterbacks coach Brian Callahan has worked with Peyton Manning, Matthew Stafford, Joe Burrow, and Derek Carr. Senior offensive assistant Greg Roman is a four-time NFL offensive coordinator.
It is a staff that should be well-positioned to help Dart become the player the Giants believe he can be. Their future depends on them getting it right.
Nicola Peltz's family marries into another showbiz dynasty
Nicola Peltz's family have joined forces with another showbiz dynasty following the wedding of the actress' brother Will to the late Quincy Jones's daughter.
Four years on from Nicola's marriage to David and Victoria Beckham's son Brooklyn, her brother Will Peltz, 40, married into the family of the legendary record producer when he tied the knot with model Kenya Kinski-Jones, 33, in June.
Sharing the details of their wedding with Vogue, actor Will and Kenya, who have been together for 14 years, gushed about the importance of having family involved in every detail of their big day.
After proposing in the garden of the Peltz family home in Mount Kisco, New York, the couple decided to marry in the exact same spot a year later.
On the morning of the welcome party, Kenya, whose mother is the actress Nastassja Kinski, and Will privately exchanged their vows outside.
Will's billionaire father Nelson walked the bride down the aisle before taking on the duties of Will's best man.
Nicola Peltz's family have joined forces with yet another showbiz dynasty following the wedding of the actress' brother Will to the late Quincy Jones's daughter Kenya Kinski-Jones
Will's mother Claudia meanwhile acted as Kenya's matron of honor for the intimate vow exchange, which was followed by a larger ceremony the following day.
'Beginning the wedding weekend with the most meaningful part filled all of the unspoken moments between us throughout,' Kenya told Vogue. 'My father-in-law Nelson and my uncle Richard walked me down the aisle, and my mother-in-law Claudia sweetly walked with Will down the aisle.'
Will added: 'It really was the perfect moment. Not only was I at the home where I grew up and that I'd made so many memories in, but I was with my people, my everything. My father was my best man, and my mother was Kenya's matron of honour.'
Kenya's half sister, the actress and film-maker Rashida Jones was also part of the bridal party, alongside Nicola and Brooklyn, and the couple's other siblings and their spouses.
Her late father Quincy, who died in 2024, was honoured throughout the day. Her bridal bouquet was wrapped in his tie, and a piece of his handwriting was embroidered into her wedding dress.
During the brief rehearsal ahead of the ceremony, her sister Tina gave her a pin locket with a photo of their father to put on her bouquet and she walked down the aisle to Magnus Ferrell singing You Put a Move On My Heart, a song of her father's.
It was Will's mother Claudia who helped the bride plan the event, with Kenya gushing 'planning alongside family was something I've always looked forward to'.
'Will's incredible mother, Claudia, was the heart of the process. As with everything she does, I found myself learning so much from her.'
Four years on from Nicola's marriage to David and Victoria Beckham's son Brooklyn, her brother Will Peltz, 40, married into the family of legendary record producer Jones
After proposing in the back yard of the Peltz family home in Mount Kisco, New York (pictured), the couple decided to marry in the exact same spot a year later
Will added he was delighted to have the wedding at home surrounded by his family, explaining: 'We're a come-over-for-dinner couple,' he explains. 'And I grew up in a full, loud house where everybody is welcome. That's home to me.'
The couple will be hoping their families remain close, following the disintegration of the Peltz's relationship with their Beckham in-laws.
Brooklyn and Nicola have not spoken to his estranged parents for over a year and he has not acknowledged any of his parents' birthdays or milestones publicly since their rift began, around the time of David's 50th celebrations.
In his statement in January Brooklyn detailed why he had cut ties with his family, singling out his 2022 wedding with Nicola as the catalyst for much of the drama.
Will's billionaire father Nelson walked the bride down the aisle, along with her uncle, before taking on the duties of Will's best man. Kenya and Will pictured with Nelson
Kenya's late father Quincy, who died in 2024, was honoured throughout the day. Her bridal bouquet was wrapped in his tie, and a piece of his handwriting was embroidered into her dress
Brooklyn claimed in the bombshell statement 'my parents have been trying endlessly to ruin my relationship.'
He claimed that his fashion designer mother 'cancelled making Nicola's dress in the eleventh hour' and in the 'weeks before our big day, my parents repeatedly pressured and attempted to bribe me into signing away the rights to my name, which would have affected me, my wife, and our future children'.
'The night before our wedding, members of my family told me that Nicola was "not blood" and "not family",' he added, before writing that he had been left embarrassed when his mother danced 'inappropriately' with him during the first dance.
Brooklyn has remained close to the Peltz family, recently thanking his father-in-law Nelson for being 'the best' in a gushing birthday tribute.
