If the New Orleans Saints had made a different decision on draft night, Jaxson Dart could be quarterbacking against the New York Giants on Sunday. Instead, Dart will be trying to lead the Giants to a second straight victory. And, perhaps, leave the Saints with a tinge of regret.
The Saints, with the No. 9 overall pick in Round 1 of the 2025 NFL Draft, could have selected Dart to give first-year head coach Kellen Moore a quarterback to try and build around. There were some in the draft community advocating for them to do just that. They passed, selecting offensive tackle Kelvin Banks instead.
“I met with them multiple times. [Saints head coach Kellen] Coach Moore was great, [offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier] Coach Nuss was great too. Definitely had a good relationship with them during the whole process,” said on Wednesday when asked about pre-draft interest from the Saints. “I felt like my visit with them went good. So, you kind of have thoughts in your head during the draft of what options are really realistic, and I definitely felt like that was a place that could have panned out. But things didn’t work out that way.”
The Giants traded back into the first round, moving up from No. 34 to No. 25 to make Dart their quarterback of the future. After three season-opening games and loses, Dart became the quarterback of the present and helped the Giants earn a 21-18 upset victory over the previously unbeaten Los Angeles Chargers.
Dart and the Giants are happy with how things worked out.
“I love it here. I love it here. There’s not a place that I’d rather be,” Dart said. “I love just how passionate people are here outside of the facility, within the facility. I kind of like the attitude that the East Coasters have and it’s a lot of fun. I’ve loved it.”
So far, Giants fans love Dart, too.
Did the 0-4 Saints make a mistake? They drafted Tyler Shough, a 26-year-old rookie quarterback, in Round 2. He is currently the backup to 25-year-old Spencer Rattler, a 2024 fifth-round pick. Sunday’s outcome won’t, of course, provide a definitive answer either way.
Nic Jennings of SB Nation’s Saints website, Canal Street Chronicles, believes the Saints did the right thing.
“The selection of Kelvin Banks Jr. has looked like a smart one so far, as the Saints appear to have successfully replaced their former All-Pro tackle duo of Terron Armstead and Ryan Ramczyk with Banks and last year’s first-round pick, Taliese Fuaga,” Jennings told Big Blue View.
“I also don’t think I would have felt comfortable taking a quarterback that early — especially with the void at offensive tackle after Trevor Penning’s move to guard. At the time, I even thought the Saints might have reached a bit on Tyler Shough.
“Interestingly enough, the majority of Who Dat Nation seemed more in favor of drafting the best player available rather than the best quarterback available—and that’s exactly what the Saints did.”
The Saints passing on him is not going to be a major focus for Dart on Sunday.
“I think that there’s always a chip on your shoulder any time that something like that happens,” Dart said. “But, I’m just going to go out there and play as hard as I can.”
What does concern Dart is trying to win another game.
“Our expectation and thought process is to win every game that we step in,” Dart said. “You can’t make it anything bigger than what it is, and you’ve got to prepare the right way. I think that’s kind of been my message to everybody in the locker room. We’ve got to come to compete every single day.”
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