This is one outlet's own report from CBS Sports — the article as it was filed.
AIPROPX ReportCBS Sports · 3h ago
Have Giants, Saints finally found franchise QBs? History points to Year 2 leaps for Jaxson Dart, Tyler Shough
The Giants have spent the better part of a decade looking for Eli Manning's replacement. The Saints have taken nearly as long trying to find life after Hall of Famer Drew Brees . Different cities, different organizations, same question: did they finally get their guy?
New York cycled through names like Daniel Jones , Tommy DeVito and Russell Wilson before handing the offense to Jaxson Dart . In New Orleans, the list included Teddy Bridgewater , Jameis Winston , Derek Carr and Spencer Rattler before turning to Tyler Shough . Every move started with guarded optimism and ended with the search continuing.
Not because Dart and Shough are guaranteed to become franchise quarterbacks, but because their rookie seasons in 2025 resembled those of quarterbacks who historically took major steps forward in their sophomore campaigns. Giants and Saints fans have heard such promises before. This time, there are reasons to believe.
Quarterbacks don't usually break out because they throw for 4,000 yards as rookies. They break out because they already show the traits that consistently translate -- efficiency comes before production and limiting mistakes comes before stardom. The breakout usually arrives later, a function of everything else coming together.
To see how Year 2 often unfolds, I looked at every quarterback since 2010 who started at least eight games as a rookie and tracked what happened in his second season.
The quarterbacks who break out in Year 2 don't all get there the same way. But history shows a few recurring paths.
Elite rookie became an even better Year 2 quarterback.
Offensive coaching change disrupted his development.
Supporting cast and offensive environment deteriorated.
Knee injury fundamentally altered his trajectory.
The lesson isn't that every quarterback falls into one of these distinct categories. It's that context matters as much as talent.
Herbert built on an outstanding rookie season. Lawrence took off once Jacksonville got the coach right. Prescott regressed when the offense around him regressed ( Ezekiel Elliott was suspended, the offensive line was banged up). Mac Jones lost momentum after an offensive overhaul that included losing coordinator Josh McDaniels. And Griffin's trajectory changed because of injury late in his rookie season. Development is rarely linear, and it's almost never isolated from what's happening around the quarterback.
So where does that leave this year's class? If there's one quarterback I'd bet on to make a Year 2 leap, it's Dart. What surprised me most was how consistent the results were. Whether I looked at historical comparisons or projections, they kept pointing back to the Giants quarterback.
The Giants didn't spend Dart's rookie season trying to hide him. Once he became the starter, Brian Daboll asked him to run the offense, push the ball downfield and consistently make big-boy NFL throws. As the season progressed, Dart looked increasingly comfortable doing exactly that. And while it didn't always work, the results were encouraging.
Dart's rookie numbers were modest: 2,272 passing yards, 15 touchdowns and a 91.7 passer rating across 12 starts. The more encouraging story lived beneath those numbers. Dart consistently challenged defenses downfield while protecting the football -- just five interceptions on 339 attempts -- even after Malik Nabers was lost for the season in Dart's first NFL start.
Dart's closest rookie profiles produced a variety of successful Year 2 seasons. Bo Nix's statistical output most closely resembles Dart's projected production, while Russell Wilson and Marcus Mariota represent more efficient versions of that same developmental path.
The point isn't that Dart will become Wilson or Mariota; it's that his closest historical comps generally built on their rookie seasons instead of plateauing or regressing.
These aren't projections carved in stone; they're a range of likely outcomes based on how quarterbacks with Dart's rookie profile have historically developed. The takeaway is simpler: quarterbacks who looked like Dart as rookies usually became legitimate NFL starters, not placeholders. That's the standard in New York -- finding a quarterback good enough to stop searching.
If there's one quarterback I think we (and "we" is doing a lot of work here -- I mostly mean "me") may have underestimated, it's Shough. His rookie season hinted at something the box scores couldn't fully capture.
Dart has the higher ceiling, but Shough may have the higher floor. The NFL saw an older, often-injured quarterback coming out of college, and that's why he lasted until the second round. But his rookie season suggested something more interesting: a quarterback who already played the position with surprising efficiency. He completed 67.6% of his passes, averaged 7.3 yards per attempt and posted a 91.3 passer rating over nine starts for a Saints offense that never quite established a consistent identity around him.
Continuity matters, too, with the second-year quarterback returning alongside his second-year coach. There is no learning a new offense. Instead, Shough can grow within the one he already knows.
The names tell an interesting story. Carr, Dalton and Bridgewater: two second-round picks and a late first-rounder, all multi-season starters. Not an All-Pro among them (there are eight Pro Bowls), but all proved they could win in the league. Carr and Dalton started for nearly a decade. Bridgewater was on his way before a devastating knee injury changed his career. Even Minshew carved out multiple productive seasons despite being a Day 3 pick.
As for Shough, his historical comps aren't built around superstardom -- their superpower is stability.
New Orleans doesn't need an MVP. It needs a quarterback it can stop replacing every offseason. For a franchise that has most recently cycled through Carr, Rattler and Haener, stability would be a revelation. Shough does not need to become Brees. He just needs to become the quart...
Have GiantsSaintsQBsHistoryYearJaxson DartTyler ShoughDartShoughEli ManningDrew Brees
AIPROPX is an independent multi-source news index — we track, compare, and connect coverage from across the web into one place you won't find anywhere else.
