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Giants Now: The Athletic's 2025 All-Rookie Team

CARTER-DART-GN

The Athletic's 2025 All-Rookie Team

The 2025 campaign is officially in the books.

The Athletic's Dane Brugler took a look back at the regular season in order to determine his 2025 NFL All-Rookie Team, which featured several Giants players.

First up is Jaxson Dart, who was Brugler's choice as the honoree at quarterback.

"It was called by some a 'desperation' pick at the time. In hindsight, Dart might end up being a steal," wrote Brugler. "A steep learning curve was to be expected as Dart made the jump from college to the NFL, but he played above expectation almost from the start. The Giants bet on Dart's talent as a natural thrower with promising mobility and high-level intangibles, and the Ole Miss product made the most of the opportunity.

"Despite making only 11 starts (and just one with a healthy Malik Nabers), Dart accounted for 24 total touchdowns (15 passing, nine rushing), easily the most among first-year players. (Cam Ward finished second with 17 touchdowns.) Several of the key rate stats also favored Dart, including EPA per dropback (0.03), touchdowns per attempt (4.4) and touchdown-to-interception ratio (3.0). With 487 rushing yards, Dart's legs also were a big part of his productivity. He finished with more rushing yards than Alvin Kamara, and the only quarterbacks to produce more yards on the ground were Josh Allen and Justin Herbert."

Dart finished this season with the second-most passing yards (2,272) by a Giants rookie in franchise history. He surpassed Charlie Conerly (2,175 yards in 1948) in the Week 18 win over the Cowboys. His 24 total touchdowns were the third-most by a rookie in Giants history, trailing only Conerly and Daniel Jones, while his nine scores on the ground not only set a new franchise quarterback record, but also finished as the third-most by a rookie quarterback in NFL history.

Additionally, the 22-year-old quarterback had 10 games this season with 2+ touchdowns, tied with Andrew Luck (2012), Russell Wilson (2012), Dak Prescott (2016), Jayden Daniels (2024) and Bo Nix (2024) for the third-most games with 2+ offensive touchdowns by a rookie since 2000.

The other Giant to be recognized among the best first-year players at his position is Abdul Carter, who was the choice at edge rusher along with Atlanta's James Pearce Jr.

"Despite a few speed bumps (on and off the field), Carter looked like a top-five pick down the stretch..." Brugler wrote. "The Athletic's Austin Mock does a great job compiling 'splash' plays for defenders (sacks, pressures, tackles for loss, third-/fourth-down stops, etc. — basically, all the negative plays for an offense). Carter led all rookies during the regular season with 82 'splash plays,' 13 more than Pearce, who ranked No. 2 among rookies."

Carter contributed to a sack in four straight games, the most consecutive games by a Giants rookie since 1982, and also recorded 23 quarterback hits, the most by a Giants rookie.

According to Next Gen Stats, Carter's 72 quarterback pressures on the season finished seventh in the league and only five behind Cleveland's Myles Garrett for sixth. Even more impressive was Carter finishing with 48 quick pressures, which led the entire NFL and were five more than the next highest player (Nik Bonitto had 43).

While Dart and Carter were selected by Brugler as the top first-year players at their positions, several other Giants rookies made it into their respective 'Honorable Mention' sections, including running back Cam Skattebo, interior defensive lineman Darius Alexander, and offensive tackle Marcus Mbow.

View photos of the Giants' rookie class throughout the 2025 season.

View photos of every NFL player selected with the fifth overall pick since the first draft in 1936.

Screenshot 2025-08-01 at 3.36.49 PM

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