Giants season preview: How long can Russell Wilson keep Jaxson Dart from taking over?

There’s nowhere for the Giants to go but up this season. Going any lower would bury a few jobs with it.

After going 3-14 last season, the Giants kept general manager Joe Schoen and coach Brian Daboll, who began the 2025 calendar year feeling the pressure of being on the hot seat well before any offseason moves were made.

It was fair, given that the Giants have won only nine games since a nine-win season in 2022. But now? Schoen and Daboll invested in insurance to make this a transition year instead of a make-or-break one.

Those security blankets are quarterbacks Russell Wilson and rookie Jaxson Dart. Wilson is here to save things in the present. Dart is the future plan who will test Daboll’s reputation as a quarterback developer.

The task for Wilson and the Giants is tough with the NFL’s hardest schedule based on last season’s combined won-loss record. But that’s why Schoen and Daboll took a chance on the 14-year veteran.

The Giants were plagued by bad quarterback play the past two seasons. Four took snaps last season, a Giants first since 1992, and as a result, there was a lack of leadership. Wilson changes that.

He’s a proven winner with a Super Bowl ring  he just so happened to win at MetLife Stadium. He can elevate Malik Nabers after the receiver had a franchise-record 109 catches as a rookie. He can make this offense more dynamic, something it hasn't been in four of the last five seasons. With the exception of the 2022 playoff season, the Giants have ranked 30th or 31st in scoring four of the last five years. That includes 16.1 points per game in 2024. 

“We've had a lot of great days, a lot of great moments, obviously, in the preseason, OTAs, all the camaraderie, all that part, that's been great,” Wilson said. “I think what's exciting is we get to do what we love to do here in however many days it is. It’s exciting and we just stay focused on the task.”

However, there are questions: The Giants are Wilson’s third team in three years after the Broncos and Steelers passed on keeping him around for long. Wilson, who turns 37 in November, also is one of the most sacked quarterbacks in NFL history and has lost some of the speed that used to allow him to extend plays.

He’s still better than Daniel Jones, but how much life does Wilson have left in his arm? Words can uplift, but his actions on the field will decide his true value.

 If not, expect the noise to get louder for Dart to take over. The Giants wouldn’t have traded up in the first round to draft Dart if Wilson had been a long-term fix, and that was never their plan. They needed a young quarterback to plan ahead with.

It won’t be surprising if Dart plays meaningful snaps this year, but whether he plays will depend on Wilson and the Giants’ record. If Wilson struggles, Dart will get time to prove whether his preseason was a good omen or fool’s gold.

"All in all, in the three preseason games, he executed well," Schoen said. "He still has room for growth and a long way to go, and luckily he’s in a room surrounded by veterans that have played in this league for quite some time, and I think that’ll provide dividends down the road being around Russell and Jameis [Winston]."

That’s why there’s more pressure on Wilson to not just save his career but potentially the jobs of the coach and GM who signed him. Dart doesn’t face that pressure and neither does his fellow first-round pick, linebacker Abdul Carter.

Carter, who was hoping to wear Lawrence Taylor's No. 56 but had to settle for 51, has conjured visions of past Giants pass rushers with his speed, his arsenal of pass rush moves and his positional flexibility. He can line up at off-ball linebacker or outside defensive end or rush from the inside.

Yet like Dart, Carter is not expected to be a savior. He joins a formidable pass rush with Brian Burns, who is in his second year with the Giants. Then there's Kayvon Thibodeaux, who is hoping to reclaim his 2023 promise, and All-Pro defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, healed from his first major injury of his career.

If Thibodeaux regains his form, Burns builds on his solid first season and Carter lives up to his hype, the Giants’ defensive front could stir echoes of past teams that made deep playoff runs. It’s less pressure on Carter and more focus on him as another tool for a defense that needs to do better stopping the run and forcing turnovers.

The Giants spent more than $136 million this offseason, $84.6 million of it guaranteed, to revamp their defense. Almost $100 million of that went to cornerback Paulson Adebo and safety Jevon Holland to add experience to a young secondary. Another $9 million went to defensive tackle Roy Robertson-Harris, who hopes to take some pressure off Lawrence up front. Those upgrades must pay off for a defense that looked inexperienced and overwhelmed last year.

“If we got the mental resiliency and we stick to the process," Burns said, "I feel like we could still take this far.” 

It’s a final reminder that Schoen and Daboll built this roster to improve now even if their jobs might not be under as much pressure as they were in January. There’s no expectations of making the playoffs, so this team needs to show it’s trending in the right path.

That makes 2025 a season in transition — a season in which Wilson looks to improve his and the Giants’ fortunes before it’s time to trust Dart as the new hope.