After announcing that rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart would be getting his first NFL start in Week 4, New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll confirmed that this decision wouldn’t be changed any time soon.
The Giants started quarterback Russell Wilson for its first three games of the season, leading to a 1-2 record going into this week’s matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers.
But after revealing Dart’s promotion, Daboll told reporters on Wednesday that the rookie will be the starter ‘for the remainder of the season’.
Daboll also said this was ‘my decision’ to make the switch and called it ‘the right thing for our team’.
Dart, who was taken late in the first round of this year’s NFL Draft out of Ole Miss, has now been given the keys to the offense and will start for the first time.
Wilson signed with the Giants earlier this year after a single season with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He joined Dart and veteran Jameis Winston in a completely new quarterback room.
Giants coach Brian Daboll says that Jaxson Dart will start ‘for the remainder of the season’
That announcement will surely be a blow to the hopes of 36-year-old Russell Wilson
The Super Bowl champion was given a contract worth $10.5million but has lasted just three games, which also included a loss to the Washington Commanders and overtime defeat by the Dallas Cowboys.
It has been a rough few years for Wilson since he was traded off the Seattle Seahawks, the team with which he won Super Bowl XLVIII and lost Super Bowl XLIX.
He was traded to the Denver Broncos in 2022 – in what has been called one of the worst trades in NFL history.
Wilson was moved along with a fourth-round pick in exchange for two first-round picks, two second-round picks, a fifth-round pick, tight end Noah Fant, defensive lineman Shelby Harris, and quarterback Drew Lock.
Wilson promptly flamed out in Denver under coach Sean Payton and after two seasons, he was cut and signed with Pittsburgh.
He only survived a single season in the Steel City before hitting free agency and signing with the Giants.
Despite his clear regression across the last four seasons, sources close to the 36-year-old told Daily Mail Sport that Wilson still believes he’s a starting-caliber quarterback in the NFL.
The source said: ‘In the chance Russ doesn’t play for the Giants for the rest of the year, as he is being benched this upcoming week for Jaxson Dart, he will take it all with humility and be a team player.
Dart, a rookie out of Ole Miss who was drafted late in the first round, will get his first NFL start
‘This is not the way he wants to go out and he will look and work diligently to play for another team next year.
‘He believes that he is still a starter in the league, and this benching will not define the end of his career.
‘He will support Jaxson, but just as much as things didn’t work in Denver, if that happens to be the case in New York, he will make sure that he is in another city and give himself another opportunity to give it one more go – to go out on his own terms.
‘He doesn’t want to retire and be finished after this season. If it is up to Russ, he will be playing somewhere next year, and he is convinced he would be a starter. He isn’t giving up,’ the source said.
