How Giants QB Jaxson Dart is acclimating to a new offense in New York

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — How is the installation of a new offense going in New York? Giants backup quarterback Jameis Winston referenced a cookbook rather than a playbook, comparing the process to making gumbo.

“There’s just so many good mixes in there,” the jovial 12th-year veteran explained. “You’ve got the old school; you’ve got the new school; and you’ve got just this melting pot of greatness, right? So, it’s really fun.”

That may sound like some classic Jameis Winston wisdom, but it’s actually something he borrowed from former teammate Drew Brees’ recent Pro Hall of Fame enshrinement speech — the longtime Saints QB mentioned neighbors bringing gumbo as a housewarming gift when he got to New Orleans — and put his own spin on it. And it is fitting for what’s happening in New York on John Harbaugh’s very experienced offensive coaching staff. There are a lot of new cooks in the kitchen, each with plenty of play-designing and play-calling experience, so the key for the Giants is working together to create a palatable, cohesive offensive “gumbo.”

The staff features offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, who’s been a play-calling head coach in Chicago and spent a lot of time (both as a quarterbacks coach and OC) in Kansas City with Patrick Mahomes. Senior offensive assistant Greg Roman most recently worked as the Los Angeles Chargers’ offensive coordinator with Justin Herbert (working for Harbaugh’s brother Jim) and had the same job in Baltimore with Harbaugh and quarterback Lamar Jackson. Passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach Brian Callahan most recently served as the Titans’ play-calling head coach and previously worked as the OC in Cincinnati with Joe Burrow. Even tight ends coach Tim Kelly has served as an offensive coordinator (Tennessee and with the Giants as an interim last year).

While so much experience can obviously be a good thing, “too many cooks in the kitchen” is an idiom for a reason. It’s fair to wonder if there will be too many voices in the ear of second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart, who’s had an up-and-down start to training camp, including a roller-coaster preseason debut.

But as Dart acclimates to a new offense — particularly after playing in one last year that was largely built to make his transition to the NFL as smooth as possible — growing pains were expected. And amid the process of adjusting to a new scheme, Dart actually sees all the new voices as a positive thing — he’s soaking up a lot of knowledge from coaches who have been at this for a long time.

“You get to hear their perspectives. You get to hear, obviously, their coaching each and every day,” Dart said. “That alone gives this staff a really good edge for us as a team. … As players, we have all the confidence in the world in them being able to put us in the best spots to succeed.”

As fans got a glimpse of Saturday during the Giants’ preseason debut, the new scheme is a departure from the college-style, RPO-heavy scheme former coach Brian Daboll’s Giants ran last year during Dart’s rookie season. Instead of playing out of shotgun most of the time, the quarterback is being asked to line up under center far more often — largely to facilitate what’s expected to be a run-heavy attack — and Nagy said Dart has taken to the change with “no issue.”

Callahan emphasized that element is no longer new to the quarterback given how many reps he’s put in this offseason.

“He’s taken to it really quickly,” Callahan said. “I’ve always felt (the) under-center run game is usually going to be where you’re most dangerous and multiple, and then that play-action game that goes with it is an important part of NFL offenses. We’re still going to be in the gun and do the things that he’s comfortable with there, and we’ll have all the RPO game that goes with it. So we’ll be multiple, and we have a lot of ways we can attack. Him being able to do (everything) is going to allow us to have that flexibility.”

In the spring, Callahan talked about the need to improve the consistency of Dart’s eye discipline and footwork. Months later, the coach believes Dart has come a long way in both regards, saying his feet are calmer in the pocket and that his eyes are usually in the right place as he understands what is being asked of him in the passing game.

“There’s a rhythm to it and a discipline to it where you know each concept requires you know a certain footwork and timing and rhythm, and I think he’s really bought into all that, and I think he’s really started to execute those things at a pretty good clip at this point,” Callahan said. “The footwork discipline and just like the smoothness of it, I think has really improved.”

In terms of other changes for Dart, we can’t forget to talk about sliding, which was a huge talking point last season. As a ball carrier, Dart likes to play aggressively, at times to a fault, as he ended up getting checked for a concussion five times last year. Dart was checked for a concussion once again during Saturday’s preseason game, but that came after the QB took a hit in the pocket and was not the result of him being overly aggressive as a ball carrier.

Still, avoiding taking unnecessary hits has been a huge point of emphasis under the new staff, and Dart seems to be making strides — in practice last week, Dart’s slide to the sidelines resulted in loud cheers from his defensive teammates and Harbaugh. Everyone was happy to see their quarterback make a smart play in a situational drill.

Since the spring, there’s been a plan in place for Dart’s progression, starting from teaching him the basics of the Giants offense to running the plays in camp. From there, Nagy has the next piece he wants to see in Dart’s evolution.

“My biggest thing with him was being able to get through these practices and, it sounds simple, but be able to get in the huddle, call the play, get up to the line of scrimmage, see the defense and play fast,” Nagy said. “He’s calling every play. He’s seeing it when he says it. He’s not just listening and memorizing it.

“He’s there. He’s aced that part. Now we’ve got to get it to the part of seeing the defense and taking it to the next level, because the kid is super talented.”

That started for the first time, albeit in a small dose on Saturday as the Giants suited up for their first preseason game. Because of the concussion check, Dart didn’t play quite as much as planned, finished 3-of-4 passing for 26 yards and a touchdown along with two sacks.

However, Dart’s exposure to live (ish) action while operating the new offense will increase this week, as the Giants conduct a joint practice with the Miami Dolphins; there are also two more preseason games before the action kicks off in Week 1. How much Dart will play the remainder of the preseason remains unknown, but one of the team’s goals for the rest of August will be to pare down the offense a bit via a filtering process.

They want to determine what’s working for Dart. If the QB isn’t getting his eyes to a certain spot in the progression on a particular play, the coaching staff plans to use their remaining time before the regular season to determine why he might not be seeing it well before deciding whether to fix the issue or ditch the play.

The whole process is a collaboration, and it’s not the coaches who have input on how to make the “gumbo.”

Dart needs to feel comfortable with what he’s being asked to do.

“On Sundays, we want to go out and play as fast and have as little guesswork as possible,” Callahan said. “So that process is sort of ongoing, everything goes in, and now we start to narrow some things down.”