Jaxson Dart might be done for the season. His knee injury, suffered in Monday’s brutal 28-6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, is “worse than anticipated,” according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo. This is a gut punch, considering he took that hit on the final play of New York’s opening drive, knee ping-ponging between Rams linebackers Byron Young and Josaiah Stewart. Now the Giants are staring down the barrel of a complete quarterback crisis.
The Depth Chart Nightmare Just Got Real
Jameis Winston stepped in after Dart went down, and honestly, it was rough. He finished 11-of-27 for 111 yards and threw one interception. Not exactly inspiring stuff, even if it was a tough assignment against a good Rams defense without Myles Garrett on the field. With a short week before Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Titans, Winston is almost certainly getting the starting nod. But here’s the kicker: Dart and Winston were the only signal-callers on the active roster for the first two games. That’s it. Winston clearly isn’t a long-term solution, and now the Giants are left with literally no options beyond him. They have to explore trade and free-agent targets if they want to salvage their season. It’s that desperate.
Scouting The Options, Fast
So, who can the Giants even look at? First up, free agent Jimmy Garoppolo. The dude is accomplished, rocking a 43-21 career record in 64 starts. There was talk of him retiring, but NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported in July that Garoppolo wants to keep playing for the right spot. He needed an injury to open a door, and well, here we are. Giants offensive coordinator Matt Nagy runs a west-coast offense that uses pre-snap motion, RPOs, and screen passes. That’s exactly the kind of scheme where Garoppolo thrived with the 49ers. Even if the Giants don’t have prime Deebo Samuel or George Kittle, Malik Nabers, Isaiah Likely, and Cam Skattebo are still a good skill-position unit for the 34-year-old to work with.
Then there are the Eagles’ backups, Andy Dalton or Tanner McKee. McKee is a fascinating one, a sixth-round pick in 2023 who had a strong 2025 preseason. Some folks were calling for a second-round pick in a trade for him as recently as March! Now, after a lackluster preseason this year, he’s the emergency No. 3, inactive for the first two games, and in the final year of his rookie deal. He’s only appeared in six games over three seasons. That might make him easier to acquire than Dalton. As for Dalton, the man has extensive experience, 179 appearances over 16 seasons. Plus, Giants passing game coordinator Brian Callahan worked with Dalton when Callahan was the Bengals’ OC from 2019 to 2023, and Dalton started 13 games for them in 2019. Oh, and the Giants are apparently looking at Tua Tagovailoa too, but that’s as far as the talk goes on him right now.
The clock is ticking for the Giants. Winston is the man for Sunday, but they cannot waste another second. Their season, which feels like it just started, is already hanging by a thread.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Bleacher Report.
Leave a Reply