Multiple NFL sources have told the Daily News that they believe Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart will end up being the Bo Nix of this year’s NFL Draft class.
Nix was projected by many as a late-first or early-second round pick for most of his pre-draft process, but Sean Payton locked in on the Oregon QB. The Denver Broncos drafted Nix No. 12 overall.
And Nix led the Broncos to a playoff berth, finishing third in the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year voting behind only Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels and Raiders tight end Brock Bowers.
“It only takes one,” a coach said. One team to love a player and draft him high, especially at the sport’s premium position.
That happened in a 2024 class when six quarterbacks came off the board in the draft’s top 12 selections.
Now imagine how competitive a market there could be for the first-team All-SEC QB Dart in a draft with only one standout QB prospect, Miami’s Cam Ward, who is expected to go No. 1 overall to the Tennessee Titans.
Here’s how competitive: there are some in league circles who believe Dart will be this class’ QB2 even ahead of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, whose recent pro day highlighted some NFL scouts’ questions about his ability to drive the ball to the sideline.
“I think he’ll end up getting drafted before Shedeur,” one NFL evaluator said.
The big question in New York, then, is whether Dart could be the Giants’ guy. Their actions say they’re very interested.
Dart, 21, visited the Giants in East Rutherford, N.J., back in early March right after the NFL Combine. And the Giants also sent an enormous contingent of coaches and evaluators to Oxford, Miss., that included coach Brian Daboll this spring to spend more time with him.
The Rebels’ quarterback ran an RPO-heavy scheme in college, or the “run-pass option,” where a quarterback in shotgun makes quick throws out of play action to pre-snap reads. In 2024 he racked up 4,774 total yards of offense, throwing 29 TD passes to six interceptions.
There are questions about his ability to process and work the field at the NFL level if those first reads are not available. But his production, especially his on-target deliveries down the field in coach Lane Kiffin’s offense, stands out as a tantalizing ability that could translate.
Dart led all of college football with 1,517 yards and 17 TDs on deep passes of 20 air yards or more in 2024. And he ran the ball at least 119 times in all three of his Ole Miss seasons, including eight touchdown runs in 2023 and 124 carries for 495 yards and three TDs last year.
One NFL scout said he looks at Dart and sees a good “backup,” a “gamer” who is prone to mistakes. Then again, like Nix last season, if a quarterback finds the right coach and supporting cast, he can quickly prove a lot of teams’ evaluations wrong.
“There are things to like about Dart,” Greg Cosell of NFL Films told The News on the “Talkin’ Ball with Pat Leonard” podcast. “He throws a pretty good ball. He’s probably a better athlete than people give him credit for. His running will be a factor. His ability to scramble and get first downs like that will be a factor.”
“Overall traits, you wouldn’t put him in that [top] category,” Cosell added. “But if he’s well coached, good scheme, people around him — there are very few transcendent quarterbacks. They need people [around them]. I think Dart could be a quality starter in this league, but I think he needs all those other things in place for that to happen.”
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