Jaxson Dart is expected to undergo season-ending knee surgery after he was injured in Monday night's 28-6 loss to the Rams, a setback that changes the Giants' season immediately. The news broke on Wednesday after further imaging showed a much worse reality than the club first believed.
Dart went down at the end of the Giants' first drive in Los Angeles and briefly tried to return before the team took his jersey, a sign that the injury was serious even before the latest scans. NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo and 's Adam Schefter reported the update, and added that the ACL in Dart's left knee is intact while he has damage to his left MCL, PCL and meniscus, with the meniscus described as the main issue.
The timing matters because Dart had just been a bright spot for the New York Giants, picking apart the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1 in an opening-night win that helped fuel optimism about his second season. The No. 25 overall pick in last year's draft had already missed two games as a rookie because of a concussion, but this injury is far more damaging for a team trying to build around his arm and legs.
Jameis Winston finished the game and was 11 of 27 for 111 yards and one interception, and he now has to carry the offense full time. That is the hard turn for the Giants: what looked at first like a painful but manageable knee problem has become a season-ending surgery case, and the only unanswered detail that matters now is when Dart will go under the knife.
