Jaxson Dart has a new perspective on football.

The competitor in him admittedly doesn't "have a blast" watching from the sideline on gameday. The professional in him, however, embraces the role.

"My job's just to be prepared each and every week," Dart said Friday, two days before the Giants and Cowboys meet in Dallas, each looking for their first win of the season. "We have a great quarterback room, and I think that all of us have the exact same approach of not looking in so much of being on the field but just preparing each and every day for whenever and however an opportunity may come. So, we've got a great room of guys and guys who are just competing. It's been cool to kind of have that relationship with everybody where we can lead and at the same time just have the trust to communicate with one another and prepare each and every one of us."

Dart, the 25^th overall pick, also understands that no two paths are the same for a quarterback. Around the NFL, there are years and years of drafting and development to back that up.

"I think that when you look around and you look at guys who have had success, it comes in all different ways from guys stepping on the field," Dart said. "Like Peyton Manning, who really struggled his first year and then turned things completely around. To guys … who have sat a year or two before their number was called. I don't think that there's any specific timing of that such. It's more of just, you got to prepare. The team's going to put the best guys out there on the field. I think that's what people always have to understand. We're trying to win and we're trying to compete at the highest level. So, the guys who are out there on the field, you want to put those guys in the best situations and those guys who have played at the highest level."

The overhaul of the quarterback room began with the signings of Russell Wilson, a 10-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion, and Jameis Winston, a former No. 1 overall pick.

Dart, joining the team six weeks later, spent the next four months listed at No. 3 behind the veterans but ran mostly with the second team, including in the preseason games when he completed 32 of 47 passes for 372 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. He also rushed six times for 52 yards and another touchdown while the Giants scored more than 30 points in three consecutive preseason games for the first time in franchise history.

When it came time for the Week 1 unofficial depth chart to be released, Dart was moved up to No. 2. Wilson made his 200^th regular-season start while Winston served as the emergency third quarterback.

"I think that we just have a unique room where it's not as much if we look at each other as you're the first-string guy, you're the second-string guy, you're the third-string guy," Dart said. "It's not like that at all. When we're in meeting rooms, we all talk to each other. Me and Jameis are trying to communicate with Russ as much as we can of things that we see. So, we kind of view ourselves as a quarterback as just one. I think that when you look around the league of teams who have the most success and win championships, a lot of that is just the room of the quarterbacks and how each and every person has a role and is involved on whoever's out there on the field playing. So that's just our jobs. We just try to be the best teammates and do what's best for the team."

All the while, Dart has taken the show team reps, which mimic the upcoming opponent in practice. The coaches will mix him in "once in a while" with the first unit to go through the process of entering the game at an unexpected moment. Afterwards, Dart will stay with players and go through the entire practice script.

"I meet with him every week," coach Brian Daboll said. "And we go through a number of plays that he runs on the show team. There's a lot of good learning examples from that. You try to play that like a game the best you can with your timing, with your rhythm, with your eye control, with your mechanics, with when to take off, when not to take off. You treat those show team reps, if you will, like game reps. And then when you're standing behind the offense when they're going, he's taking game reps on every play, along with Jameis. And they're back there 10 yards going through the mechanics, motions, shifts, protection calls, re-identifications. They're playing the game, not with the 10 other guys, but they're playing it behind the huddle and taking advantage of every opportunity they can."

And while he is focused on being the best Dart he can be, he is also emulating the Jayden Daniels and Dak Prescotts of the league in practice.

"I take pride in those reps," Dart said. "Just trying to give the best look to our defense. I did a little bit more running last week when I was acting like I was Jayden, versus this week of acting like I'm Dak. Cadence wise, you definitely try to marry those things up. I'm doing the Dak 'here we go' cadence and that stuff. It's fun because I'm able to take time to watch those other quarterbacks around the league and kind of see the things that they do at a really high level. I want to give our team the best chance to go out there and win. I think the looks that I give are extremely valuable and I try to do that at a high level."