After an up-and-down season, the New York Giants are entering the 2026 season with high morale. Second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart showed enough for fans and the team to rally around him, the defense has talent sprinkled throughout, and the Giants hired Super Bowl-winning head coach John Harbaugh. A combination like this is a recipe for success, especially as this team tries to emerge from a rebuild.
It’s important to understand that the Giants’ momentum can stall, and after recent actions by Dart, the odds of that happening have risen.
NFL Analyst Speaks on Abdul Carter’s Reaction Post to Jaxson Dart’s Viral Moment
Recently, during a New York political rally for United States Representative Mike Lawler, Dart introduced President Donald Trump to the stage. When this moment happened and was uploaded to social media, it went viral, and as politics came into the conversation, it got heated.
One of the people to react to the video of Dart was his teammate, EDGE Abdul Carter. In that now deleted post, Carter said, “Thought this S**t was AI, what are we doing man”. Clearly, Carter was not happy with what he was seeing, and when this was posted, people began to criticize the Giants’ players.
NFL analyst Michael Ryan Ruiz on the Dan Le Betard Show spoke on Carter’s reaction and how people should stop going after Carter:
“He (Dart) is there because he is the quarterback of the New York Giants; he is not just some guy, he is mainstream approved, and he has just put all his teammates in this situation,” Ruiz said. “That is a distraction that he caused. Don’t go at the person (Carter) that’s reacting to distraction. You don’t hear from Abdul Carter this weekend if Jaxson Dart doesn’t do that.”
As mentioned earlier, the Giants’ momentum heading into 2026 is volatile, and a “distraction,” as Ruiz lays out, could destroy what the team is working towards. Since Carter’s post, the defensive lineman and Dart had a call, and according to Carter, the two are “good”, but the only reason we know that is because of how public this was.
What is Jaxson Dart doing? pic.twitter.com/GzummMfiUF
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) May 26, 2026
Like during many other disagreements between players or issues brought up in the locker room, the public eye is blind to those interactions. The only way we hear about them is if they’re leaked, happen publicly, or get revealed much later. As of now, we do not know how other Giants players may have reacted to what Dart did.
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However, for Dart, the main focus should now be on the field. In his rookie season, he completed 63.7% of his passes for 2,272 yards with 15 touchdown passes and just five interceptions across 14 games, adding 487 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns in his rookie season.
According to PFSN’s QB Impact Metric, Dart posted an impact score of 76.3 last season, ranking 18th in the league. Hopefully, under Harbaugh, he will be able to crack the top-10 this season.
