Playing in New York can be ... different. Especially if you are a quarterback.
Win big and you are embraced forever.
Slip a little and you can get buried - by the spotlight, by the pressure, by the media, by the fans.
Rookie Jaxson Dart, for whom the New York Giants traded up to make him the recent NFL Draft's 25th overall pick, is here for it.
All of it.
During the an edition of the "Talkin’ Ball with Pat Leonard" podcast, Dart opened up about finding his way to the Giants, where former QBs like Phil Simms and Eli Manning are all-time heroes ...
But also where the team has just one playoff win (January 2023) since their Super Bowl XLVI victory over the New England Patriots on Feb. 5, 2012.
"This is a place where everybody just wants to win," Dart said about the intensity of the world's largest sports market. "They want to be the top of everything, and as a competitor, that’s exactly where I want to be. I want that expectation for myself and everybody around me.
"An environment like that helps me play to my potential."
What is that "potential''?
Coming from Lane Kiffin’s offense at Ole Miss, Dart figures to have a sizable jump waiting for him in the NFL. But head coach Brian Daboll - an offensive mind - now has his career tied directly to the decision.
And this can be a slow play if the Giants wish.
In signing Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston, general manager Joe Schoen - also directly tied to the Dart decision - now doesn't have to force the kid into the lineup.
Mistakes will happen. Dart said his "aggressive'' nature won't go away.
“I'm an aggressive player as is, so I think that's definitely something that I have to continue to learn,”he said. “I think this practice setting is a great time for me to do it. Then obviously you make mistakes, you do some really good things and you get to go back and watch the tape and pick up on the things that you need to improve on.”
Dart was a polarizing pick to some, but he's got one thing right about the bright lights: They will not go away. They will not fade. So he might as well embrace the "environment'' that awaits.