Jaxson Dart’s first-team reps, more notes from New York Giants OTAs

Malik Nabers has a toe, Evan Neal is a guard, Jameis Winston is … well, Jameis, and more from practice

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Head coach Brian Daboll said on Wednesday that the New York Giants have “a detailed plan” for how they will divide practice reps among their four quarterbacks, most importantly veteran starter Russell Wilson and probable future starter Jaxson Dart.

“They’ll all get reps at various spots,” Daboll said before practice.

Connor Hughes of SNY did the math on what the plan looked like during Wednesday’s OTA, the first one media had access to, so that math-challenged media members like myself did not have to.

The Giants had promised that Dart, whom they traded up to select 25th overall in the 2025 NFL Draft, would get sprinkled in on occasion with the starters to see how he reacted. They did not waste time implementing that plan.

Dart’s three reps with the starters came in a goal line situation. They included a touchdown pass, a run for a score and an interception by Micah McFadden.

As he had done during rookie minicamp, Daboll spent as much time with Dart as he could.

Injury stuff

Malik Nabers (toe) did not practice. Daboll indicated Nabers has not done any more this spring than catch the ball as the Giants navigate an injury the wide receiver has dealt with since college. [FULL INJURY STORY]

Joint practices

The Giants face the Buffalo Bills, New York Jets and New England Patriots this preseason. As of now, no joint training camp practices are scheduled. That, though, doesn’t mean there won’t be any.

“Working through that now,” Daboll said. “Have more on that here in due time.”

The Bills already have joint practices scheduled with the Detroit Lions. With those in place, is debatable whether Buffalo would want to hold sessions with the Giants. The Giants face the Patriots during the regular season, so joint practices with New England seem unlikely. That would leave the Jets as a possibility.

Evan Neal at guard

Yes, the fourth-year offensive lineman was at guard on Wednesday. Neal, though, did little. He took a few reps at left guard with the second unit on air (without a defense). Neal did not appear to get any reps during team 7 on 7 or 11 on 11 periods.

“I know he’s excited about the opportunity he has,” Daboll said. “He’s a big man. He’s got length, he’s obviously a little bit taller than I’d say traditional guards, but he’s played it. He’s played a number of positions since he’s been at University of Alabama.

“He’s been working hard this last month and a half and look forward to getting him out there.”

Veteran guard Greg Van Roten detailed the challenge Neal is facing as he transitions from tackle to guard.

“Inside, things happen faster,” Van Roten said. “The guys are bigger and there’s a lot of moving parts. If a defense is static, it’s easy to play guard, but they’re not static. They’re very dynamic. And that’s probably one of the challenges that goes kind of under the radar is how fast things can happen and how many things you need to be able to process in a short period of time.

“With the ability that you see that these defensive linemen these days, they’re not these big fat slugs anymore. They’re very athletic, dynamic. You look at the young guy that we drafted in the third round, he’s a big dude, but he’s very athletic. And then you look at [defensive lineman] Dex [Lawrence] inside, that is not someone I would say that is I want in a phone booth. Just me personally. Yeah, they’re closer to you, but that doesn’t mean that it’s easier to block them.”

Offensive line alignment

Left tackle Andrew Thomas and left guard Jon Runyan Jr., coming back from foot and shoulder injuries, respectively, did not participate in 7 on 7 or 11 on 11 drills. The first-team offensive line was as follows:

James Hudson (LT), Aaron Stinnie (LG), John Michael Schmitz (C), Greg Van Roten (RG), Jermaine Eluemunor (RT).

Van Roten, 35, has been in the league since 2012. He sees the depth of the group the Giants have assembled.

“We are deep. There’s a lot of talent,” Van Roten said. “Marcus [Mbow, fifth-round pick] looks like he can be a good player. Jake [Kubas] showed a lot of promise and last year hoping to build on that in year two. That’s kind of what you want to see out of your younger players is to take that step forward after being in the system for a year and having the same coaches and all that.”

Loving the legends

Howard Cross, a member of the Giants’ 1990 Super Bowl-winning team, closed practice on Wednesday by speaking to players. Eli Manning, Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck and Lawrence Taylor have all spoken to the team this spring.

“It’s something I thought about at the end of the season, getting ready for this upcoming season,” Daboll said. “I think it’s good for these players that are playing for this organization to hear from guys that have done it at a high level, not just for the New York Giants, but for the National Football League.”

“It’s great,” said safety Jevon Holland. “I think they basically say – they’ve all won Super Bowls and have won a bunch of games – so they’re just giving us the blueprint to what success is and what success was for them and how they got to it, which is great cause we’re trying to win a Super Bowl, obviously. So yeah, I mean it’s just giving us the baseline of where we need to be and what our standards need to be, and it aligns perfectly with what Coach Dabs has been saying, what our coaching staff has been telling us.”

The Jameis Winston experience

This could not have been scripted more perfectly. Jameis Winston, the boom or bust backup quarterback who joined the Giants this offseason, threw an interception on his first pass Wednesday.

In a goal line drill, Winston, who has 154 career touchdown passes and 111 career interceptions, threw a pass into a crowd and safety Dane Belton came out of the pack with it.

Play calling

As he had done during rookie minicamp, offensive coordinator Mike Kafka was again on the walkie-talkie on Wednesday calling in plays. Kafka was the offensive play caller in 2022 and 2023, but Daboll took that role in 2024.