The New York Giants landed a player Thursday night who they hope will be their next great pass rusher.
A few hours later, they also took a swing for their potential franchise quarterback.
After selecting Penn State star Abdul Carter with the No. 3 pick in the NFL draft in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the Giants traded back into the first round later Thursday to pick Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart at No. 25.
The Giants traded the No. 34 pick, the No. 99 pick and a third-round selection in 2026 to the Houston Texans to move up nine spots for Dart, who will join a quarterback room that already includes Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston.
“He’s in a really good spot where he can come in and he can sit behind a couple of veteran quarterbacks and learn and doesn’t have to be thrown out there right away,” Giants general manager Joe Schoen said. “I think from a developmental standpoint and the ability to grow, I think it’s a perfect situation for a young quarterback.”
Carter, meanwhile, joins a defensive front that includes Kayvon Thibodeaux, Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns and Bobby Okereke.
“We’re going to be dominant,” Carter said. “It’s going to be dope just getting to know those guys as a person, getting to know them as men and then getting closer as teammates.
“And then once we get on the field together, just wreak havoc.”
Moments after selecting Carter, Schoen announced that New York was going to exercise defensive end Thibodeaux’s fifth-year option, ending speculation that the former first-round pick could be on the move via a trade.
Schoen, after the Carter pick, also hinted that the Giants could make another move later in Thursday’s first round. Schoen followed through by choosing Dart instead of Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, who also was available.
The Giants spent months scouting Sanders, made multiple trips to Boulder, Colorado, met with him extensively at the Shrine Bowl and even made him run through a private workout last week for, among others, coach Brian Daboll.
But they opted instead for Dart, who passed for 4,279 yards and 29 touchdowns last season while leading Ole Miss to a 10-3 record. It was a decision that Schoen said was finalized Monday.
It seemed to be heading this way in recent days, especially with sources telling ESPN that Dart was Daboll’s quarterback of choice.
The Giants also did a ton of predraft work on the 21-year-old Dart. Schoen attended a game this season, and the Giants sent a large contingent that included ownership to a private workout in Oxford, Mississippi. It was one of several meetings throughout the process that allowed Dart and Daboll to develop a bond that led to him being their quarterback of the future.
“Yeah, so Coach would text me a lot,” Dart said. “And man, I would say like two weeks ago he kind of died off, so I didn’t know what to expect. But no, I felt like — I don’t know, I just had a good feeling about this. I just felt like this was going to work.”
The Giants entered the offseason looking for their quarterback of the future, with owner John Mara declaring it their “No. 1 issue.” Now, they think they found him.
“Yeah, again, we went through an extensive process, and we moved up for Jaxson,” Schoen said. “Again, we’re fired up to have him. But at the end of the day, when we went through the process and we ranked them, this is how we had them ranked, and Jaxson — we felt the value matched up with where we saw the player.”
The Giants had the option to take Dart or Sanders earlier Thursday at No. 3 but couldn’t pass on Carter, who was rated by some teams as the top player in the draft. Carter fits the bill as the kind of blue-chip, or generational, prospect that Schoen recently said “you don’t pass on.”
With Carter, the strength of New York’s roster became even stronger. The Giants traded for Burns last offseason and selected Thibodeaux at No. 5 in the 2022 draft. Both edge rushers have a double-digit sack season on their résumés.
Carter had 12 sacks last season in his first year playing off the edge at Penn State. He played the previous two seasons at off-ball linebacker and could be deployed in a way similar to how the Dallas Cowboys use star pass rusher Micah Parsons.
The selection sets up the Giants to more closely resemble the glory years teams of the past. All four of their Super Bowl winners were built around defense, specifically a ferocious and deep pass rush.
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