Jaxson Dart Named Week 4 Starter: Scouting Report and Fantasy Football Impact for Malik Nabers
Matthew Freedman breaks down the fantasy football fallout of the New York Giants pegging Jaxson Dart as their Week 4 starter.
The inevitable is now official: Just two weeks after veteran QB Russell Wilson passed for a career-high 450 yards, the Giants now plan to start rookie first-rounder Jaxson Dart for Week 4 (per ESPN's Adam Schefter).
Although Giants HC Brian Daboll has yet to state publicly that the team is switching to Dart (as of writing), the fact that he failed to back Wilson after Week 3 indicated that this move was a strong possibility.
And now it's happened.
What does it mean for Dart and everyone else in the offense?
Jaxson Dart Is Probably a Downgrade From Wilson
In the projections that power our Fantasy Life Game Models, we have Wilson as a +2 value against the spread relative to Dart.
In the lookahead line for the Week 4 Giants-Chargers game, the Giants were 4.5-point underdogs. When the line reopened after their Week 3 loss, they were 5.5-point dogs.
Now, they're 6.5-point dogs.
Dart has a better future than Wilson—but right now the veteran is probably the superior player.
Do you think Dart would've passed for 450 yards against the Cowboys?
Probably not.
Jaxson Dart Week 4 Projections For Fantasy Football
In our Fantasy Life player projections, I had Wilson projected for 208.0 yards and 1.3 TDs passing with 0.7 INTs and 12.9 yards and 0.1 TDs rushing.
The numbers with Dart aren't that far off.
- Passing: 201.8 yards, 1.0 TDs, 0.7 INTs
- Rushing: 25.6 yards, 0.1 TDs
You'll notice that I had Wilson projected for more TDs, but I have Dart projected for about double the rushing yards.
In the end in terms of fantasy, it's about a wash—although I expect Dart to have more upside, because he's almost certainly a better runner than Wilson is right now … and he MIGHT be a better passer (or at least more of a high-variance gunslinger).
So would I want to start Dart in 2QB leagues or Guillotine Leagues™ this week?
Probably not.
But if I were desperate for a streamer, could I at least talk myself into it?
Maybe.
RELATED: Jaxson Dart now finds himself among the best Week 4 waiver wire adds.
Dart's Fantasy Football Impact on Malik Nabers and the Giants Offense
With Dart making his first NFL start, we should have muted expectations for the Giants offense, and I think it's likely that HC Brian Daboll will want to funnel the attack through the backfield.
So I'm holding on rookie RB Cam Skattebo, especially since RB Tyrone Tracy (shoulder) is unlikely to play. And if the Giants run more RPO plays with Dart, that could open up additional running lanes for Skattebo.
But for the Giants pass catchers, this is a probable (though slight) downgrade.
- Malik Nabers: Mid-tier WR1
- Wan'Dale Robinson: Low-end WR3
- Darius Slayton: WR5
- Theo Johnson: Who???
Again, the switch to Dart is a good long-term move for the franchise.
But for fantasy players—especially for Week 4—I doubt it actually means much.
Jaxson Dart Scouting Report
- via Thor Nystrom
Dart stands 6-foot-2 with a broad-shouldered frame and a thick build. He weighed in at the Senior Bowl at 226 pounds, with the third-longest wingspan of QBs at the Hula, Shrine, or Senior.
Dart is a strong athlete who lived up to his dual-threat billing in the SEC. When he tucks, Dart squirts upfield into the second level with surprising burst. He’s a tough kid who would rather lower the shoulder than slide. He has played hurt. Dart could provide Bo Nix-like rushing utility at the next level.
In the pocket, Dart is clever in his subtle movements to buy more space or an extra beat to throw. He throws from multiple arm slots, with a smooth, repeatable motion and a quick release. One area for development is footwork. Dart’s feet can have a mind of their own, a habit that can skew his accuracy down to the layups.
Dart doesn’t have a downfield howitzer—deep balls flutter on him when his eyes get bigger than his stomach. But when Dart stays within his means, he has the touch and placement to challenge single coverage confidently.
Dart’s arm shines brightest in the intermediate area. He knows how to spin it. Dart consistently beats defenders to the spot with fastballs into tight windows, big-boy NFL throws. Dart ranked No. 1 in this draft class in both intermediate and over-the-middle completion percentage.
Dart became a master of Lane Kiffin’s shotgun-spread system, the essence of which is flipping the natural order of things to force defenses to think more than offenses. Kiffin accomplishes this with untold manipulations, misdirection, eye-candy, false tells, and the like. Dart has quick hands for Kiffin’s patented RPO game.
Kiffin simplifies things post-snap by cutting infinite options for his quarterback down to a manageable three-tiered hierarchy. Schematic garnish juices the odds of success for the initial reads. Dart went to the first one a lot. Between that and the preponderance of quick-hitters and screens in the playbook, 34.2% of Dart’s attempts went to wide-open receivers, ranking No. 11 in the FBS, per ESPN.
Dart’s senior tape saw him snapping to the second read in his progression on time when called for consistently enough. But his third option was often tucking-and-running. Dart can at times be a bit mechanical in his thinking post-snap, sticking to the pre-snap script instead of taking advantage of the post-snap coverage look.
There was a play against Alabama in 2023 that provides an example of this. Dart is at his own 41, with four receivers spread wide, two on each side. Alabama is in a nickel look, with the boundary corners in press-man. The nickel defenders, playing slightly off the line, have man responsibilities as well.
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