Jaxson Dart scrambles a lot, and he makes big plays. He also puts himself in harm’s way. It’s a dangerous thing for a rookie QB to get hit so much, and Dart has already left games and had to sit out with a concussion. He isn’t worried about it, but he might need to start worrying about it.
Jaxson Dart’s comments on big hits should worry Giants fans
Jaxson Dart was heading out of bounds on Monday Night Football and suffered a huge hit. It was deemed legal since Dart was still in bounds, but New York Giants players didn’t appreciate it either way. It’s not the first big hit Dart has taken, nor will it be the last.
And when it comes to those hits, even as a quarterback, Dart isn’t all that concerned. After the game, he said via ESPN, “I understand the question, but this is football. I’m going to get hit if I’m in the pocket or outside the pocket. I feel like I played this way my whole entire life. It shouldn’t be any shocker to anybody if you followed along with my career. We’re not playing soccer out here. You’re going to get hit. Things happen. It’s just part of the game.”
Dart continued, saying this has always been the QB’s play style throughout all levels of the sport. “Turn on my high school tape, turn on my college tape, it’s not a shocker to anybody. It’s how I’ve played. I felt like if you just watch the game, like, I did slide. I did avoid a lot of hits, so you’re going to get hit. It’s football,” he said.
Dart isn’t a physically imposing quarterback, but even if he were, those hits add up. Ask Cam Newton, who made a living by running through and over defenders. Other players who’ve been hit a lot have had their careers shortened. Many of Dart’s teammates, who understand what he can bring to this franchise, don’t want him to go down that same injured path.
“I told him earlier , be smart, protect ourselves. Obviously, he’s not going to listen because he’s just so competitive, loves the contact,” offensive lineman Jon Runyan said. “That’s just how he is. We’re just going to have to keep talking to him. Maybe he’ll listen to us one of these days.”
And as for that concussion, Dart isn’t of the mind that he did anything wrong on that play. “A fluke play. You watch the hit, I lose control of the ball and I don’t brace myself because I’m trying to re-catch the ball,” Dart said. “It’s not because of the hit. It’s because I lost the ball. So just like any other league, you take new steps, there’s bigger, faster players. My body feels good.”
Dart said he doesn’t want to restrict himself to being just a pocket passer. His game is predicated around doing both, and that’s fine. Plenty of QBs today (Drake Maye, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Jayden Daniels, Josh Allen, and Jalen Hurts, among others) do both at a high level. It’s a winning style in the modern NFL.
But those quarterbacks are either built like trucks (Allen and Hurts) or are smart with how they run (Mahomes, Jackson, Maye). Others, namely Daniels, have suffered injuries because of their style. Things will have to change for them, and that likely includes Dart.
One concussion and some other devastating hits didn’t change Dart’s mind on Monday night, but the more he suffers, the more he’s likely to hopefully wise up and change his mind. The Giants and the NFL are both going to be better for it.
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