The New York Giants concluded their preseason schedule on Thursday with a 42-10 win against the New England Patriots.
Before kickoff, head coach Brian Daboll decided to send out his two first-round picks from the 2025 NFL draft as captains for the coin toss.
Third overall pick Abdul Carter and 25th overall pick Jaxson Dart came out with their arms locked — a glimpse of the team’s future.
The two rookies are one of the main reasons for the major excitement surrounding the team this year.
After the game, Daboll talked about the decision to send the rookies out for the coin toss:
“I put him out there for the coin toss today, and he’s running up to me, ‘What do you want me to do again? I’ve never done this before,'” Daboll said of Dart. “Just the last second, I told him, you’re going out there, right when I got here today, a few minutes before we went out there. So he’s thinking about that.
“Just try to do things that may come up one day with him. We’ll keep on building him. I think Shea [Tierney] and Kaf [Mike Kafka] have done a really good job with him. He’s done a good job. Credit the player, first and foremost. Being a rookie quarterback is not easy. Being a quarterback is not easy. He knows he has a lot of things to work on, but he’s made progress every day. I’m glad we drafted him and I’m glad he’s our guy.”
Dart clarified that he had not been out for a coin toss since his high school days:
“I haven’t been out for a coin toss since high school because at Ole Miss, we always wanted the ball first,” he told reporters. “I had to get my arm warmed up and get ready to go, so I had other guys go and do it for me. So, when he was like go do it, I was like, ‘I can’t even remember what to do.’ But good experience.”
It’s worth noting that the coin toss captains for the first two preseason games were Russell Wilson and Brian Burns; two candidates to be potentially named team captains when they’re voted on and announced ahead of the regular season.
It was a cool moment enjoyed by the home crowd at MetLife Stadium for the two rookie first-round picks to come out for the coin toss.