Player
Jaxson Dart
QB · NYG Giants
Rushing touchdowns are the cheat code of quarterback fantasy scoring: each one is worth a 150-yard passing day. Dart's nine were not accidents of scramble luck, they came from a goal-line keep package the Giants installed for him, and a designed role like that is the kind of rushing production that tends to return the next season.
The rookie heist
Nine rushing touchdowns as a rookie quarterback. Since 1999, only Cam Newton has more.
RareMost rushing TDs by a rookie QB, 1999-2025 (regular season)
| Player | Season | Draft pick | Rush TD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cam Newton | 2011 | 1 | 14 |
| Jaxson Dart | 2025 | 25 | 9 |
| Josh Allen | 2018 | 7 | 8 |
| Vince Young | 2006 | 3 | 7 |
| Robert Griffin III | 2012 | 2 | 7 |
Dart ran for 9 touchdowns in 14 games, the second-most by any rookie quarterback in the last 27 seasons. Only Cam Newton's 14 in 2011 beats it, and Newton was the first overall pick with the whole offense built around him from day one. Dart did it after sitting for three weeks, on 86 carries for 487 yards.
Why it matters. Rushing touchdowns are the cheat code of quarterback fantasy scoring: each one is worth a 150-yard passing day. Dart's nine were not accidents of scramble luck, they came from a goal-line keep package the Giants installed for him, and a designed role like that is the kind of rushing production that tends to return the next season.
Pick 25 outscored pick 1 by six points a game: Dart led the 2025 rookie quarterback class in fantasy scoring.
Comparison2025 rookie QBs, fantasy points per game (min 100 attempts, regular season)
| Player | Pick | Games | Pass yds | TD:INT | PPR/g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jaxson Dart | 25 | 14 | 2,272 | 15:5 | 17.3 |
| Tyler Shough | 40 | 11 | 2,384 | 10:6 | 14.4 |
| Cam Ward | 1 | 17 | 3,169 | 15:7 | 11.0 |
| Shedeur Sanders | 144 | 8 | 1,400 | 7:10 | 10.6 |
| Dillon Gabriel | 94 | 10 | 937 | 7:2 | 7.0 |
Five rookies threw 100 or more passes in 2025. Dart averaged 17.3 PPR points per game, nearly three clear of Tyler Shough and more than six clear of first overall pick Cam Ward. He also posted the class's best interception discipline among full-time starters: 15 touchdowns against 5 picks.
Why it matters. Rookie quarterback classes usually sort by draft slot; this one sorted by rushing value. Dart's per-game scoring edge over Ward is almost entirely his legs: nine rushing scores against Ward's two. For fantasy purposes the class hierarchy inverted in one season, and per-game scoring at 17-plus as a rookie has historically been a starter-level signal, not a fluke.
The Giants opened 0-3 at minus 0.084 EPA per play. Dart took over and the offense swung by an eighth of a point per snap.
TrendNYG offense, 2025 regular season
| Span | Off EPA/play | Plays |
|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-3, before Dart | -0.084 | 188 |
| Dart's 11 full starts | +0.040 | 699 |
New York opened the season 0-3 with Russell Wilson starting and the offense underwater at minus 0.084 EPA per play. From week 4, in the 11 games Dart started and threw at least 20 passes, the same offense ran at plus 0.040. That swing, roughly an eighth of an expected point on every snap, is the difference between a bottom-five offense and a league-average one.
Why it matters. Quarterback changes rarely move an offense this cleanly at midseason, with the same line, the same receivers, and a rookie under center. The residual caution: the sample is 11 games, and plus 0.040 is average, not elite. What the swing establishes is a floor, and it is why the job is his without competition in 2026.
The legs, audited
Every kind of Dart run worked: 4.9 a carry on called keeps, 7.6 when he took off on his own.
SplitDart on the ground, 2025 regular season (kneels excluded)
| Run type | Carries | Yds/carry | TD | EPA/play | Success % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Designed keep | 41 | 4.9 | 7 | +0.317 | 61.0 |
| Scramble | 38 | 7.6 | 2 | +0.747 | 73.7 |
The scrambles were the most valuable play in the Giants offense: 7.6 yards a pop at a 73.7 percent success rate. The called keeps did the scoring: 7 of his 9 rushing touchdowns came on designed runs, and 8 of the 9 came inside the red zone, where 4 of his 7 carries from inside the 5 reached the end zone.
Why it matters. This split is why Dart's rushing value looks durable. Scramble production depends on chaos, but a coordinator can call the goal-line keep on purpose, every week, and New York clearly intends to: seven designed rushing scores is a play-calling commitment, not a happy accident. Both halves of the profile graded well above the average NFL play.
The habit that follows quarterbacks everywhere: Dart took a sack on 9.4 percent of dropbacks, 4th-most in football.
AnomalyHighest sack rate, 2025 (min 300 dropbacks, regular season)
| Rank | QB | Sacks | Sack rate % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Geno Smith | 55 | 10.9 |
| 2 | Lamar Jackson | 36 | 10.7 |
| 3 | Justin Herbert | 54 | 9.5 |
| 4 | Jaxson Dart | 35 | 9.4 |
| 5 | Cam Ward | 55 | 9.2 |
Dart absorbed 35 sacks in 14 games, a 9.4 percent sack rate that ranked 4th-highest among quarterbacks with 300 or more dropbacks. Some of that is a rookie holding the ball behind a shaky line. But the uncomfortable history is that sack rate is one of the stickiest quarterback stats there is: it travels with the passer, not the blockers.
Why it matters. Sacks are the tax on Dart's aggressive, extend-everything style, the same trait that makes his scrambles so valuable. The 2026 watch item is whether the rate bends toward 7 percent as he speeds up his internal clock, because the passers who stay above 9 percent tend to get hurt, and Dart already missed three games in year one.
Year two, eyes open
Eleven quarterbacks threw 50 passes for the Giants in eight seasons. Dart is the first since Eli with the job locked.
MilestoneEvery Giant with 50+ pass attempts in a season, 2018-2025
| QB | Seasons | Attempts |
|---|---|---|
| Eli Manning | 2018-2019 | 779 |
| Daniel Jones | 2019-2024 | 2,453 |
| Colt McCoy | 2020 | 72 |
| Mike Glennon | 2021 | 174 |
| Jake Fromm | 2021 | 66 |
| Tyrod Taylor | 2022-2023 | 204 |
| Tommy DeVito | 2023-2024 | 265 |
| Drew Lock | 2024 | 193 |
| Russell Wilson | 2025 | 129 |
| Jameis Winston | 2025 | 69 |
| Jaxson Dart | 2025 | 375 |
From Eli Manning's farewell through the Daniel Jones era to the 2025 opening-month bridge, eleven different quarterbacks have thrown at least 50 passes for New York since 2018. Dart's 375 attempts as a rookie already rank third on that whole list. The revolving door is the context for everything: this franchise has not entered a season with a settled, ascending quarterback since 2019.
Why it matters. Quarterback churn is expensive in ways the box score hides: receivers learn new timing every year, play callers coach to the floor instead of the ceiling. The first-round quarterback call fails about half the time, but Dart's rookie production means the Giants finally get the other benefit of the premium pick: a full offseason built around one arm.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: Dart finishes top-12 among quarterbacks in fantasy points per game in 2026.
Rookie QBs at 14+ PPR/g (10+ games) since 1999: what year two paid
| Player | Rookie PPR/g | Year-2 PPR/g |
|---|---|---|
| Cam Newton (2011) | 23.1 | 20.3 |
| Justin Herbert (2020) | 22.2 | 22.4 |
| Jayden Daniels (2024) | 20.9 | 16.3 |
| C.J. Stroud (2023) | 18.4 | 13.0 |
| Kyler Murray (2019) | 17.8 | 23.7 |
| Joe Burrow (2020) | 17.4 | 19.6 |
| Josh Allen (2018) | 17.2 | 18.0 |
| Baker Mayfield (2018) | 17.2 | 14.3 |
| Daniel Jones (2019) | 16.5 | 12.9 |
Eighteen rookie quarterbacks since 1999 have averaged 14 or more PPR points per game across 10-plus games. In year two, 15 of the 18 held 15 points a game or better; only Stroud, Mayfield, and Daniel Jones fell below. Dart's rookie 17.3 slots into the top half of that cohort. The call: top-12 among QBs in points per game in 2026, with the nine-touchdown ground game as the motor and the sack rate as the risk.
Why it matters. At a fantasy draft price around pick 117, Dart costs a 10th-round pick and produced like a QB1 from week 4 on. The cohort above is the strongest floor argument a young quarterback can have: rookies who score at this level almost never collapse in year two, because the scoring came from a role, not a hot streak. The gradeable claim is plain: top-12 in points per game, minimum 10 games.
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