Jones, left, impressed on his full NFL debut against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2019 but ultimately fell short of expectations
Yet, as we know now, it didn't quite work out that way. Aside from a promising rookie year and a play-off appearance in 2022 -- which earned him a massively overblown contract -- Jones fell short of expectations. He was eventually benched and then, at his own request, released last November, leaving New York with a dismal record of 25 wins from 71 starts.
And so the cycle begins anew. The Giants took Dart, 22, in the first round of the NFL Draft in April, then licked their lips as he caught the eye in pre-season. After an 0-3 start to the year with Russell Wilson at quarterback, it was time for a change. The rookie was thrown in against the formidable Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday and led them to victory, breathing a long-forgotten feeling of hope into the bowels of MetLife Stadium.
"I haven't heard it that loud since [Taylor Swift's] Eras Tour in 2023," Conor Orr, a senior NFL writer for Sports Illustrated, said. "This place has been dormant for two straight seasons." That's what a new hotshot quarterback can do.
On paper this debut was nothing special. Dart threw for only 111 yards and one touchdown, plus a rushing score. The Giants scored only 21 points and victory could quite easily be credited to the defence after Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Abdul Carter combined for 12 quarterback hits.
Carter is also a first-round rookie, taken well before Dart in the Draft (pick No3 vs No25), and this was a breakout game for him too, but he isn't a quarterback. Linebackers don't fundamentally alter the trajectory of a franchise. At least that's the perception, which is funny when you consider Lawrence Taylor: drafted in 1981, he turned an aimless Giants team into play-off regulars and double Super Bowl champions.
Dart has a certain swagger about him -- what Gen-Zers may call "aura" -- and it was easy to be impressed by the way he directed traffic downfield, took on difficult throws and showed some nifty footwork -- not to mention a bit of grit -- when necessary.
He's someone you want to build around, in on-field talent and off-field persona, which only adds to the image of a saviour. He may yet save Brian Daboll, the head coach who is now in his fourth year with the Giants and needed to do something drastic after overseeing 14 defeats in 15 games.
A season-ending injury to Malik Nabers, their star wide receiver, hasn't helped Dart or Daboll but this year is more about what the future might hold than putting Ws on the board. Still, the rookie is a long way from curing all the Giants' ills. Recent history shows that much.
If you look at the past decade of first-round quarterbacks and take out the two most recent classes (because history shows it's probably too soon to tell), that leaves a sample size of 27. Even if you're being generous, less than half of those picks delivered what their teams expected, let alone dreamt about.
If you've got the next Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes on your hands, this is only the beginning of the good times -- but what if Dart is the new Zach Wilson, Mitchell Trubisky or Paxton Lynch?
The irony of the Jones story is that he has now joined the Indianapolis Colts and begun playing the best football of his career under coach Shane Steichen. It's a similar path to those of Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold, who struggled in bad teams only to belatedly find their groove with more competent coaching.
So, that is where Daboll comes in. Nothing gets the hype machine whirring quite like a rookie quarterback, but without shrewd guidance you might soon find yourself back at square one -- and then the cycle begins anew...
Speaking of rookie quarterbacks, there's another one making his NFL debut in London this Sunday. The Cleveland Browns, who face the Minnesota Vikings at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the first game of the 2025 London Series, have dropped 40-year-old Joe Flacco in favour of Dillon Gabriel.
Their selection of Gabriel in the third round of this year's Draft took on extra significance when the Browns also took Shedeur Sanders in the fifth. Sanders was a polarising prospect, tipped by his father and college coach, the great Deion Sanders, as a top-five pick, only to tumble to 144th, partly because of concerns about his character. Was "Coach Prime" right and the entire NFL wrong? We may find out if Gabriel doesn't nail his audition.