New York Giants OC Matt Nagy on QB Jaxson Dart: 'This Kid is Different'

Jaxson Dart's new offensive coordinator thinks the world of him.

"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. This kid is different that way," New York Giants offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said about Dart at a press conference on Tuesday, per the Giants' team website.

"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."

Dart, whom the Giants traded up to select with the No. 25 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, started 12 games in his 2025 rookie season, taking over as the team's primary starter in Week 4.

Across the 14 combined games that he appeared in, Dart totaled 2,272 passing yards, 15 passing touchdowns, five interceptions and a 91.7 passer rating, while completing 63.7% of his passes. He also rushed for 487 yards and nine touchdowns. Dart missed two starts due to a concussion.

"Every year I will watch just to kind of see the top guys that are there. I remember coming away really impressed with Jaxson and his accuracy," Nagy said about scouting Dart in the 2025 NFL Draft process when he was the offensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs. "Back then, I didn't know how tough he was and how good of a runner he was. He was a really good, sneaky good runner, tough, physical, played the quarterback position well, accurate. You could see he was a competitor.

"I remember then at the [NFL Scouting Combine], us not really being in the quarterback market, watching him, just kind of observing how he handled himself in that group of guys at the combine. You could see this moxie that he had, and he had this 'it' factor."

Nagy and the Chiefs parted ways after three seasons with him as their offensive coordinator (2023-25) and four seasons on head coach Andy Reid's staff altogether. He was previously the head coach of the Chicago Bears from 2018-21, preceded by being the Chiefs' offensive coordinator for two seasons (2016-17), among other assistant coaching stints.

Regarding Dart, after spending the 2021 college football season with the USC Trojans, he spent three seasons as the starting quarterback for the Ole Miss Rebels (2022-24), with whom he led the SEC in passing yards (4,279), passer rating (180.7) and completion percentage (69.3%) in 2024.

After a 2-8 start to the 2025 NFL season, the Giants fired head coach Brian Daboll and later hired former Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh as their new head coach in the wake of a 4-13 season. Among the new faces for Dart to target, the Giants have signed former Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely (three-year, $40 million deal) and former Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Darnell Mooney (one-year deal worth up to $10 million) this offseason.