Jaxson Dart On Harbaugh, Abdul Carter, and Injury Prone Narrative

**Craig Carton** (0:00)
Alright, we're happy to have the starting quarterback of the New York Giants joining us right now. Jaxson Dart, Jaxson, it's Craig and Chris here on the fan in New York City. Good afternoon, how you doing today, pal?

**Jaxson Dart** (0:09)
I'm doing great, how are y'all?

**Craig Carton** (0:11)
Doing good. So, has coach told you if you're playing it all against the Jets on Friday night, where are we at with that?

**Jaxson Dart** (0:19)
I mean, shoot, I think all of us are just preparing for the chance and opportunity fulfilled and that's what we've reviewed this week of just attacking day in and day out, being bought into the installs and the practices and being prepared whenever our number is called. We don't have any conclusive yes or no at this time, but we're all preparing to go out there.

**Craig Carton** (0:43)
So he hasn't said if you are playing or not. I know he told the morning guys, coach did this morning that he's waffling on whether or not you should play or shouldn't play. I assume you want to play Friday because you've only had 14 snaps this pre-season, which means 14 snaps since the end of last season.
Would you like to get more reps under your belt before you have to play the Cowboys on that Sunday night?

**Jaxson Dart** (1:08)
I don't have any more fun than playing on the football field. So I love to be out there whenever my number is called, I'm ready to go. And you know, I approach it. You know, practice is like I do games, you know, from this intensity standpoint. I thought our team had done a great job, that was pre-season and just growing with one another.
So like I said, man, like I love football and whenever my number is called, be out there on the field, I'm going out there without any hesitation.

**Craig Carton** (1:35)
How much different has this training camp been for you, both from the standpoint of you were not the starting quarterback last summer, Russell Wilson was, you are the starting quarterback, obviously now, and you had a different head coach. Has it been drastically different for you as it was to your experience last summer?

**Jaxson Dart** (1:56)
I would say last summer was more of a drastic difference from what I've had in the past. I mean, I've started since I was a freshman in high school to a freshman in college. So I think that those adjustments maybe happened more of last year. I think that obviously when you come in as a rookie, at the professional level, from a leadership standpoint, you got to earn your stripes and earn your credibility throughout the team in the locker room and with the staff as well. So I was happy to have a lot of opportunities last year and experiences that I think is very beneficial to me at this point.
I feel more comfortable in this role right now of just being the guy out there, feeling like I'm in command and really trying to do my best to make others around me and grow with my teammates to put us in the best situation to be successful.

**Craig Carton** (2:48)
Well, you learn valuable lessons when you're in a locker room with 52 other grown men, all type A personalities, who don't suffer any fools at all. It was interesting to me.
Most quarterbacks, you just assume, oh, they're going to be the captain, right? Because they're the quarterback, they're the most important guy on the field. But it was interesting to me that you've earned that respect of your teammates where they appointed you to this leadership council that Coach Harbaugh has brought to the New York Giants. How did you find out that you were one of the five or six guys that was appointed to that council?

**Jaxson Dart** (3:19)
Yeah, we had a team meeting. All the guys put in votes, obviously, and then that goes upstairs, and then they just carried off that way. Did you vote for yourself or no?
I honestly put way more people on the list. And there was even slotted for. I think that a strength about this team is that we have so many guys who have a ton of experience. We have a lot more veteran presence in this locker room this year than we did last year. And there's so many things to be excited about from just a cultural standpoint. So when I got the sheet, honestly, I added several names to each line to put guys who I thought were more than just deserving of that role.

**Chris McMonigle** (4:11)
Well, since we're talking about the leadership, obviously at the tail end of the off season, you have the situation with you and Abdul Carter and dealing with all that. Is that kind of a situation now that you look back on it, an opportunity where you were able to grow as a leader and as a teammate and it's kind of brought the team closer together? Is it something you no longer regret? Like, how do you feel about that situation now as the season is about to begin?