Jaxson Dart praises John Harbaugh, says the Giants need to ‘buy into him’

Jaxson Dart is a big fan of the New York Giants’ hire of John Harbaugh.

The Giants are bringing in one of the most accomplished head coaches in the NFL, hiring the former NFL Coach of the Year and Super Bowl champion as Dart prepares to enter his second season in the league.

“He’s going to do an amazing job of leading us,” Dart told Ahn Fire Digital. “As players, we have to make sure that we give 100% to buy into him, buy into the vision of winning. I’m excited for this team to grow closer to each other and really just have these opportunities coming up. From a culture standpoint, I think it’s a really good move.”

The Giants have all of the pieces on offense in Dart — who is a Rookie of the Year candidate — running back Cam Skattebo and wide receiver Malik Nabers. All three players are no older than 23 years old. Both Skattebo and Nabers will be returning from serious injuries, something much needed as the Giants look to improve upon the four wins they racked up this past season.

“Having those guys out there, it takes a lot of weight off my shoulders from a team standpoint,” said Dart. “I think just them, their intensity, there’s some things that are really hard to fill when guys go down. You gotta be able to have people step up and as a team connect and play better together. Their energy, their enthusiasm, their love for the game, their intensity, their competitiveness, all that is contagious. They’re unique individuals from a competitive standpoint and a talent standpoint, so we’re a much better team with them out there on the field.”

Before suffering a torn ACL in just his fourth game of the season, Nabers had already established himself as one of the top receivers in the NFL during his rookie season. In his first year, Nabers caught 109 balls for 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns in just 15 games. The former sixth overall pick actually broke the single-season franchise record for receptions.

Meanwhile, Skattebo had established himself as the Giants’ new franchise running back prior to dislocating his ankle midway through his rookie season. Skattebo ran for 410 yards and five touchdowns on 4.1 yards per carry.

“It’s just going to be great to have them out there,” said Dart of Nabers and Skattebo. “Us three, we’re young. We’re some of the youngest guys in the league. But we play this game hard, we play it competitively, and I think that it’s just going to be a good opportunity for us to grow with one another. We’re going to play with each other for a long time, so taking these steps in the right direction.”

The second year for quarterbacks is usually when they make a tremendous leap, with Drake Maye leading the New England Patriots to the Super Bowl as an MVP candidate and Caleb Williams breaking through with a sensational season while leading the Chicago Bears to the divisional round of the playoffs.

When those examples are brought up to Dart, the gunslinger admires their success, but he’s not looking to compare himself to those guys.

“You definitely see those successes and that growth, and then you have those conversations with some of those guys and just the things that they took from their steps to get better for the next season,” said Dart of Maye and Williams. “But at same time for me, I’m not wanting to get into any sort of comparison of my career or my path with anyone else’s. I think that you come into the season with the exact same expectation regardless — the expectation is to go chase a Super Bowl and go win a Super Bowl regardless of where you’re at.”

The Giants have suffered three consecutive losing seasons and have just one winning season since the start of the 2017 campaign. Dart is looking to end that losing culture alongside his young teammates and new veteran head coach.

“It’s not to, ‘Oh, let’s just win a few games this year,'” said Dart. “If you’re going into the mindset with that, then you’re already losing. I’m not going to get into any comparisons of that nature. But at the same time I’m just really excited for the pieces that we have on this team, the coaching staff that we’re about to bring in, and the direction that this organization is going to go from here. I know that I have an overwhelming amount of confidence in everybody.”