"Smart man" - Giants QB Jaxson Dart backed Brian Daboll's confidence during private call on draft night

Jaxson Dart was always expected to be a fringe first-round pick in the 2025 draft, but what was not expected was how he got there - via the New York Giants trading up. But new footage shows that Brian Daboll knew what he was doing that night.

On Friday, a previously-unreleased video emerged of the rookie quarterback talking to the head coach about the franchise's plans for him. Near the end (at 1:28 below), he says:

"Smart man!"

Sticking to the subject of the draft, Dart emphasized the importance of nailing pre-draft meetings in an interview with Sports Illustrated's Gilberto Manzano:

“You better be prepared going to a Daboll meeting, because it’s intense. He definitely wants to get the most out of you. I would say, if you’re not prepared, don’t step into the meeting, because you’re going to get grilled. So they threw all that they could at me, and I was able to handle it the best way that I could.”

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Jaxson Dart excited to work with Giants' veteran QBs, discusses relationship with Eli Manning

Veterans are playing a significant role in Jaxson Dart's development as a quarterback in the early part of his pro career. Within his team, Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston will act as his mentors. In that same interview, he said (from 4:18 in the video below):

“Our sole focus as a quarterback room is to win games. … that’s what we come to work every single day to do. We want to win. So, we all have the same focus. We have the same intent of what we’re doing and how we’re trying to handle it and make the team better.”

This follows on from his relationship with his "role model", fellow ex-Rebel and Giants legend Eli Manning. He said of it (at 7:25):

“Even before I got to Ole Miss, being able to watch him beat Tom [Brady] twice [in the Super Bowl] was incredible… We had a few different things that we ran together [at Ole Miss], and then any time I had a question, I could reach out to him, and I knew he was going to be there for me.

“And then carrying that now with the Giants, he’s living right down the road, and he’s been great making sure that I know I have him in my corner, and if I have questions, that I can continue to ask. I think that’s a huge asset, because we’ve built such a genuine connection and time.”

The Giants' season begins on September 7 at the Washington Commanders. Kickoff is at 1 pm ET on Fox.