Giants Place Jaxson Dart on IR With Winston Starting

The New York Giants placed quarterback Jaxson Dart on injured reserve Thursday, Sept. 24, after setting surgery on his left MCL and meniscus. Jameis Winston is the only quarterback on the 53-man roster, with 15 games left and Tennessee due at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 27.

Dart, 23, went down on the opening drive of a 28-6 loss at the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night, Sept. 21. Coach John Harbaugh said he will miss the rest of the 2026 regular season and still refused to close the door on a playoff return if the club gets that far.

A Third-Down Hit Ended the Opening Drive

The play was third-and-8 on the Giants’ first series at SoFi Stadium. Dart left his feet to throw, and Rams edge rushers Byron Young and Josaiah Stewart met him in the air. Stewart’s leg drove the quarterback’s left knee inward as Young hit the upper body. Dart grabbed the knee, walked off under his own power, and never returned.

He had completed 3 of 5 passes for 20 yards on that drive, the seventh play from scrimmage. General manager Joe Schoen told a sideline reporter during the game that Dart “was going to be OK.” X-rays were negative. The first public read was a sprained MCL, the kind of sprain that can cost a few weeks.

Winston finished the night. He went 11 of 27 for 111 yards and an interception, took two sacks, and watched the Rams log eight quarterback hits and 10 pass breakups in a game that was gone by the fourth quarter.

Monday Night Sounded Like an MCL Sprain

Harbaugh, in his first season in New York after Baltimore, met the cameras sounding relieved. Asked about the sprain report, he said it was “in the neighborhood of it.” He called the fact that it was not “the devastating outcome” really good news. Dart even tried to go back in before the club took his jersey.

Tuesday’s MRI ended that mood. Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo said the scans showed damage to the MCL, the PCL, and the meniscus, with the meniscus the main problem. Adam Schefter gave the same three-structure list and said the ACL was intact. A meniscus repair, Garafolo said, runs four to six months for a meniscus repair. The PCL damage was described as milder and not the reason for the operation. After extra opinions, Dart and the club chose surgery on the meniscus and the MCL.

THE WEEK THE DIAGNOSIS CHANGED

1. Sept. 21, 2026: Dart injures his left knee on the opening drive at SoFi and does not return in a 28-6 loss.
2. Sept. 22, 2026: An MRI shows the sprain read was short. Evaluations continue, and Harbaugh declines to lock a plan.
3. Sept. 23, 2026: Harbaugh says Dart will have surgery, miss the regular season, and that Winston will start against the Titans.
4. Sept. 24, 2026: The league transaction report moves Dart to injured reserve. The Giants leave the 53-man opening unfilled.

The league account posted the surgery news the day Harbaugh confirmed it.

Giants QB Jaxson Dart is expected to have knee surgery that will end his 2026 season. (via @RapSheet, @MikeGarafolo) pic.twitter.com/UOvQG9Li6U

— NFL (@NFL) September 23, 2026

Dart sat in the first team meeting after the Rams game. “He’s bummed,” Harbaugh said. “It’s hard. The season’s not over, but it is for him.”

Jameis Winston Starts With 15 Games Left

Winston is 32, in his 12th NFL season, and on a two-year extension he signed five days before kickoff. The Giants’ own bio lists 109 regular-season games, 89 starts, a 60.9 percent clip, 24,903 yards, 156 touchdowns, and 114 interceptions, plus 1,321 rushing yards and 13 scores on 332 carries. Sunday at 1 p.m. would be start No. 90.

He has already been here. In 2025 he started Weeks 11 and 12 while Dart, then a rookie, sat with a concussion, throwing two scores, running for one, and catching a 33-yard touchdown on a trick play in Detroit. This job is longer. Harbaugh told reporters the staff will build the plan around Winston’s arm, calling it a lane change, not a new offense.

THE PASSING LINE BEFORE THE SWITCH

Week 1 in the Meadowlands was the jolt the Harbaugh hire was supposed to buy. Dart became the first quarterback in NFL history to open a season with at least three passing touchdowns, 50 rushing yards, and a passer rating of 130. He finished the two-game sample 26 of 34 for 250 yards, three scores, no picks, and 54 rushing yards. Then the second start lasted seven plays.

It’s truly a privilege to be a starting quarterback. I had this privilege for two games last year. It truly was an honor. But for this game alone, my focus is on being my very best, going out there and having elite fundamentals and precise execution.

Jameis Winston, Giants quarterback, to the team’s newsroom

He also said the work has not changed, only the role, and that his first job is keeping Dart’s spirits up. The rest of the building is less sentimental. Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy stayed after Thursday’s practice with Winston, Malik Nabers, Darnell Mooney, and Malachi Fields, throwing extra routes because Sunday is no longer a Dart script.

Who Backs Up Winston Against Tennessee?

Jake Haener is still on the practice squad. Garafolo said he will serve as the backup against the Titans, which the rules allow as a game-day elevation even if he is not on the 53. The club did not use Thursday’s open chair to sign him, and Harbaugh said he wants another veteran in the room. All avenues are on the table, including a trade. A new signing, he added, is unlikely to be ready for Tennessee.

THE QUARTERBACK ROOM AS OF THURSDAY

• The starter: Winston is the only quarterback on the 53-man roster and will start Sunday against the 0-2 Titans.
• The practice-squad arm: Haener, a 2023 fourth-round pick by New Orleans, has played eight NFL games and started once, on Dec. 15, 2024, against Washington.
• The veteran market: Garafolo named Jimmy Garoppolo as a candidate, and Harbaugh would not rule out a trade.
• The empty chair: The Giants left Dart’s 53-man spot open rather than promote Haener on the day they filed the IR paperwork.

Haener set Fresno State’s career completion record at 68.1 percent and was MVP of the 2023 Senior Bowl. The staff likes him. A room of Winston and Haener is still a room with one proven starter and no second body who can scramble when a play dies, which is the hole Dart’s legs used to cover. As a rookie he ranked second in scramble rate at 10.1 percent, ran for 487 yards and nine scores in 12 starts, and that same willingness to leave the pocket is how Stewart found his knee.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The filing: Dart went to reserve/injured on Sept. 24 and no longer counts against the 53.
• The operation: Surgery will address the meniscus and MCL; the ACL is intact.
• The Sunday plan: Winston starts, and Haener is the in-house backup if elevated.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• The surgery date: Harbaugh said he did not know when Dart would go under.
• The third quarterback: No veteran has been signed, and no trade has been agreed.
• A January activation: A return in the playoffs depends on healing that usually takes four to six months from late September.

Joe Flacco’s name circulated in roundups. Leave it there until the Giants actually call.

Nagy Wants the Football Protected

Nagy has joked with Winston for months about the old 30-touchdown, 30-pick season. That joke is now the game plan. “We know who he is,” Nagy said. “We talked all training camp about protecting the football. There’s a lot of feast or famine with him. We’ve joked over time about the 30 touchdowns and 30 picks, but now, here it is. Ball security is paramount with the type of team that we have.”

The Giants already wanted to run. Expect more of Cam Skattebo, Najee Harris, Tyrone Tracy Jr., and Devin Singletary, and fewer of the deep shots Dart took on the play that wrecked his knee. Harbaugh called Winston “a big, strong, passing quarterback who can throw the ball” and said the staff will build around those strengths.

Sunday’s supporting cast is not whole. Edge rusher Brian Burns has a low left ankle sprain from the Rams game, and Burns did not practice Thursday after a Wednesday DNP. Left tackle Andrew Thomas (groin) went from limited Wednesday to DNP Thursday. Nabers, who left Monday with a shoulder injury and came back, was limited Wednesday and full Thursday. If Nabers sits, Winston loses the receiver the offense was built to feature.

Daboll Works the Opposite Sideline

The opponent is the Tennessee Titans, 0-2, with Brian Daboll as offensive coordinator. Daboll was fired as Giants head coach about 10 months ago. He and Schoen brought Winston to New York. On Sunday he walks back into MetLife Stadium to call plays against the quarterback he signed, while the first-rounder who was supposed to bury that era sits in a meeting room with a ruined knee.

Dart was selected 25th overall by the Giants in 2025 after New York traded back into the first round. He is the third Ole Miss quarterback taken in round one, after Archie Manning and Eli Manning. The club moved up from the early second round, sent Houston the 34th pick, a third-rounder, and a 2026 third, and handed him a four-year, $16.98 million deal. Last year he sat behind Russell Wilson until Week 4, then started 12 games, missed two with a concussion, and still finished as a top-three rushing quarterback. Year two lasted two starts.

Daboll does not need a scouting report on Winston. Saleh’s defense will get one on a Giants line that may be missing Thomas and a pass rush that may be missing Burns. The football problem for New York is simpler than the soap opera: the starter who just dropped 230 yards on Dallas is in a brace, and the starter who just went 11 of 27 has to last until January without a second veteran in the building.

Injured Reserve Still Leaves a January Window

IR is not a locked vault. A player put on the list after the 53 is set must miss at least four games, then can be designated to return. Clubs get eight of those tags in the regular season and two more if they reach the playoffs. Once the practice window opens, it runs 21 days. Dart’s floor, on the calendar, is four missed games. His medical clock is the longer one.

Four to six months from late September lands in late January through March. The wild-card round is the optimistic edge of that window. One injury tracker has floated a mid-January date. Harbaugh would not pin it. “Other than that, how do you know?” he said, when asked about a postseason return. “There’s no way to know. It just depends on the recovery.”

When you wake up and you feel like it’s the end of the world, and you wake up and the world’s not done. The world keeps spinning. The games keep getting played. Nobody feels sorry for you. It’s time to go play the next game. On Sunday at 1 o’clock, the ball’s going to get kicked off. We’re going to have to be the best football team we can be, and that’s the thing, it’s not a one-man game. Not like tennis. We don’t forfeit.

John Harbaugh, Giants head coach, after Wednesday’s practice

The Giants are 1-1. They host an 0-2 Titans team at 1 p.m. on Sept. 27 with one quarterback on the active roster, a practice-squad backup, and a 23-year-old former first-rounder waiting on a date for surgery. The next addition to that room will not be ready for kickoff.