Good luck keeping impressive rookie QB Jaxson Dart on the Giants' bench

Jaxson Dart is going to play early for the Giants this season.

Jameis Winston could even get traded before the end of training camp at this rate.

The early returns on Dart as a player and leader were that promising on day one of rookie minicamp in East Rutherford, N.J.

The Giants’ first-round pick was confident and prepared on the field, striping throws to his receivers in 7-on-7, including a sideline completion to Jordan Bly, an undrafted rookie signing from Gardner-Webb.

Then Dart was polite, in control and unusually comfortable at the microphone, while presenting himself to the world for the first time as a practicing pro.

“I’m confident when I step in between those lines,” Dart said without a flinch. “I felt prepared coming into today. And I’m a competitor. And I feel like if you don’t see yourself playing at the highest level, you shouldn’t even be between those lines in the first place, especially as the quarterback with how you’re going to lead the guys around you.”

This was only one practice, granted. Dart is currently the No. 3 quarterback on the Giants’ depth chart behind “starter” Russell Wilson — in coach Brian Daboll’s own words — and Winston.

Still, the habits, physical ability and intangibles that Dart demonstrated on Friday revealed a hungry and unintimidated leader. He is absolutely going to show up at training camp in July trying to win the No. 1 QB job whether the Giants tell him Wilson’s spot is up for grabs or not.

Dart put the work in before practice even started. He attributed the offense’s clean operation to a meeting Dart had organized with his offensive teammates on the bus back to the hotel the night before to “go through it and teach everybody, making sure that we’re all on the same page.”

“The biggest thing coming out here was we had a great group last night,” Dart said. “We all got together and made sure that we went through the script and did a walkthrough. That made coming out here on the field, the operation a lot smoother. And everybody was a lot more confident and was able to play a lot faster when we got to the field.

“I think as the quarterback,” he added, “you’ve got to make sure that everybody knows what they’re doing. So I tried to get as many guys as I could together on the offensive side of the ball.”

Dart then took his preparation to the field in his first practice.

He drove the football with power and zip on deep out throws. He smartly took his checkdowns and underneath reads in the 7-on-7 period when the defense took the deep stuff away — improving his short-area accuracy when the game sped up.

Dart, 21, also stands a sturdy 6-foot-2, 225 pounds. He is not a wiry youngster who needs to eat more Wheaties before he sees live reps.

He looks like he’s built to handle it.

Dart’s path to the field for the Giants early this season is also about the circumstances around him.

Imagine if Wilson struggles to start the regular season against the NFL’s hardest schedule with Daboll and GM Joe Schoen on the hot seat in year four, a scenario that does not require a stretch of the imagination.

If Daboll believes his rookie is ready, is the head coach who banged the table for Dart really not going to go to the kid?

Better yet, is Daboll really going to go to Winston in that situation over Dart?

Daboll and Schoen leap-frogged No. 2 QB Drew Lock and went straight to No. 3 Tommy DeVito last season, but they wouldn’t do that to Winston to play their own first-round pick?

Don’t be naive.

Furthermore, the New York fan base would not easily accept going from Wilson to Winston if Dart’s training camp and preseason play demonstrated he was close to ready.

It just doesn’t add up why Winston would even be on the roster by the time the season rolls around unless Dart hits a brick rookie wall in camp.

That is certainly possible, of course. Dart still needs to face an NFL defense in practice this spring and summer, master the offense and show endurance for the NFL grind.

So Winston remains a Giant as insurance — for now.

Dart deferred respectfully to Wilson and Winston as veterans on Friday. He’s not lobbying for more than what the Giants are giving him. He’s doing what is asked that day the best he can.

He does not back down from the idea of competing with Wilson and Winston, though, while acknowledging the current lay of the land.

“I’m a competitor, so I’m going to come to work each and every day and do my best to make everybody around me better,” Dart said. “I understand what the situation is, but for me and myself, I care about winning. There’s nothing fun about losing, so it doesn’t matter where you’re at on the depth chart, if you’re playing this much or not playing this much, if you’re losing, it sucks. So for me, I want to make the team better, and that’s my focus.”

While wearing his competitive edge on his sleeve, Dart also came off as relatable and grounded.

He wore a shiny, diamond necklace around his neck but revealed that it was a good luck charm he had borrowed from his little sister — a fake that carried more sentimental value than monetary.

“My little sister had it, it was hers. It was before our bowl game,” Dart said. “And as I was leaving the house over Christmas … I just saw it in her room. And I was like, you know what, I kind of like it. So I put it on, and it’s kind of been good luck for me ever since.”

He showed an edge, a work ethic, physical ability, a competitive mindset and leadership on his first practice day as a Giant.

Then he was asked about how he handled the last time he wasn’t a team’s starting quarterback.

“I haven’t really sat before,” he said.

Not in middle school or elementary school? Never?

“No,” Dart said.

Technically, he began the 2021 season as a backup at USC.

Still, to Dart’s point, he was not out of that lineup for long. He was playing by Week 3 of that first college season against Washington State, throwing for 391 yards and four touchdowns.

Week 3 sounds early, doesn’t it? Sure it does. But when Dart is ready, he is going to play.

And on Friday, he carried himself much more like a quarterback who intends to be on the field rather than holding a clipboard.

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