The New York Giants drafted Jaxson Dart as their quarterback of the future and brought in Russell Wilson to serve as their starter for 2025. It is inevitable, however, that calls will grow for Dart to play if Wilson comes out of the gates slowly.
Giants general manager Joe Schoen was asked Wednesday about the benefits of “redshirting” a rookie quarterback, as the team plans to do with Dart. Schoen slightly awkwardly brought up the fact that, when he was assistant GM of the Buffalo Bills, the original plan had been to do the same with Josh Allen.
“Our plan in Buffalo was for Josh to probably not play much in his first year, but the way it worked out, halftime in the first game, we’re getting blown out by Baltimore, we put him in, and he played the rest of the year,” Schoen said.
if I were a GM on the hot seat, I would maybe not bring up the fact that I planned to have Josh Allen sit behind Nathan Peterman for an entire season pic.twitter.com/oA76RjedUd
— The Coachspeak Index (@CoachspeakIndex) July 23, 2025
Nathan Peterman, not Allen, started the Bills’ 2018 opener against the Baltimore Ravens, which Buffalo lost 47-3. Peterman threw two interceptions in that game and was benched at halftime in favor of Allen.
The notion of sitting Allen behind Peterman in any context seems absurd now, and Schoen bringing up what would have in hindsight been a poor decision unprompted made for a relatively awkward moment.
Dart, of course, is not necessarily Allen. His training camp is off to a shaky start, though it’s very early.
No matter what, the pressure will be on Wilson to get off to a good start. If he doesn’t fans will quickly call for Dart, and Schoen’s anecdote here will be pointed to as a reason why.
