Jaxson Dart
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Jaxson Dart has already impressed new Giants offensive coordinator Matt Nagy.
The comparisons between Jaxson Dart and Patrick Mahomes were inevitable, but Matt Nagy doesn’t want to hear about them.
The new New York Giants offensive coordinator spoke about the team’s budding second-year quarterback and set clear expectations to Giants fans not to expect Dart to mimic arguably the best quarterback in the game today.
Nagy is a native of Dunellen, New Jersey but is joining the Giants after two stints working under Andy Reid with the Kansas City Chiefs. He spent five years in his first tour with the Chiefs as QBs coach and offensive coordinator and was their OC for three seasons from 2023-25.
Matt Nagy: Jaxson Dart is ‘Not Patrick Mahomes’
The comparisons of Dart to a younger Mahomes are understandable. But Mahomes had 50 touchdown passes in his first full season in the NFL and led the Chiefs to the AFC Championship Game — they nearly knocked off Tom Brady and the eventual-Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.
So Nagy wants to nip the Mahomes comparisons in the bud altogether.
“He’s Jaxson Dart,” Nagy said, according to the New York Post. “He’s not Patrick Mahomes.”
Dart himself is hearing the comparisons, which Nagy is trying to curb. He’s worried the second-year QB is going to put pressure on himself to live up to that, which Nagy knows is hard to do.
“First of all, I know how much respect that Jaxson has for Patrick,” Nagy said. “We’ve talked a little bit about the process and what he’s been through, but we’ve also made it clear, you have to be Jaxson Dart. He’s going to do that.”
Jaxson Dart Has Impressed Matt Nagy Already
Giants fans doubted Joe Schoen’s decision to trade up and draft Dart in the first round but were pleasantly surprised when they saw the QB in his rookie season.
Nagy had a similar experience meeting Dart for the first time.
“When I got here to New York and got to meet him and started talking to him, you could tell right away that everything was true.,” Nagy said “This kid is different that way.
“My initial conversation with Coach Harbs was, hey, excited, really looking forward to being able to help out in many ways and building that relationship and that trust. I know he had a great year last year, but we want to make it even better and continue to have him grow, and I want to be there to help him.”
Aside from how he handled meeting a new coaching staff, Dart impressed Nagy with his professional demeanor and leadership. But Nagy’s eyes were opened in one facet of Dart’s game in particular.
“I didn’t know how tough he was and how good of a runner he was,” Nagy said. “He was a really good, sneaky good runner, tough, physical, played the quarterback position well. You could see he was a competitor.
“Just kind of observing how he handled himself in that group of guys. You could see this moxie that he had, and he had this ‘it’ factor.”