Dart plays with ‘DB mentality in a QB’s body’
Paul Pabst and Andrew Perloff dive into all things quarterback ahead of the 2026-27 season, including Jaxson Dart needing to protect himself, starters on rookie deals and Michigan's missed opportunity with C.J. Carr.
Video Transcript
Warm takes.
True.
That's what we do here on the show.
Sweeping the country.
My daughter said it's already taken over her high school.
All the kids are warm taking each other.
Let's get to a pearl.
I'm gonna go first.
All right.
Here we go.
Go ahead.
the New York Giants this year have a little bit of new hope.
If they could get Malik Nabers back from injury, he's fantastic.
John Harbaugh's there.
It feels like a new version of them.
Jaxson Dart had a very good season, their quarterback last year.
Now, he was in the blue tent a lot last year, but you kinda like, you look at that rookie year and say, "Okay, hopefully he'll learn from that."
But even in the preseason this year, he got hurt, ended up in a blue tent in a preseason game.
You can't have that.
So my thing for Jaxson Dart is stop being a tough guy.
Right?
I think you are a tough guy.
I think you're a very tough quarterback, but there's only one guy in the league who could run without thinking about his health, and I think it's Josh Allen.
It didn't really work for Cam Newton after a certain point.
No.
But Jaxson Dart, you're too good at what you do to not protect yourself, right?
You have to think of yourself like the President of the United States.
You can't risk yourself.
Don't take shots you don't need.
Go back to, like, prime Russell Wilson when he would run.
He would run and then he'd slide.
Oh, yeah.
He'd run, then he'd get out of bounds.
You never remember any Russell Wilson runs, but I remember him playing 16 games every year.
So if you're Jaxson Dart, slide.
Here's the thing.
His dad played for Utah Ute football back in the day in the '90s.
His dad was a defensive back.
He has DB mentality in a quarterback's- Uh-huh body.
You gotta get rid of it, man.
We know you're tough.
You wanna be tough, be tough in January during a playoff game.
But if they're gonna live to see a good season, a great season, if Jaxson Dart's gonna live to see a second contract, slide a little bit and run out of bounds a little bit.
No one's gonna call you soft, they'll call you smart.
You know, I remember that time where the NFL tried to tell a mobile quarterback not to run, like every time.
Yeah.
And guess how many times it's worked?
None times.
Right.
You can't, you can't change a quarterback's mentality about running the football, Paul.
How about the last two yards?
How about eight yards instead of 10?
I, I know what you're saying, and by the way, w- it's funny, he, he gets hit in the pocket as well.
Yes.
Yeah.
Need more security.
You never know about the Giants' offensive line.
I just think he is wired that way, and when a guy's wired that way, it's not that simple.
All right.
My first warm take also involves Jaxson Dart.
Let's talk about quarterbacks on rookie deals.
Since 2018, seven of eight Super Bowls have featured a quarterback who was on a rookie deal.
People forget it's the ultimate NFL cheat code because you can build a roster around them, and I think we're taking some teams with rookie deal quarterbacks a little lightly this year.
No one saw New England coming last year, so you have to wonder, Paul, who is this year's New England?
Here are some of the quarterbacks on rookie deals.
Bo Nix, to me, is the most obvious rookie deal quarterback to go to the Super Bowl.
Frankly, they should've been in the Super Bowl last year.
I think if Bo Nix was healthy for the AFC title game, they're there.
They beat New England.
But they have a lot of talent around him.
They added Jalen Waddle in Denver.
But let me throw a couple dark horses at you, guys all on rookie deals, out of- possible out of nowheres.
Jaxson Dart, who you mentioned in New York, they do have a Super Bowl-winning coach in John Harbaugh, and they have some talent and some veterans around him.
And one more, Tyler Shuck.
Okay.
The Saints have the second easiest schedule in the NFL and they're NFC South.
They could win that division.
Now, Super Bowl seems way, way too rich, but then again, we would never have even dreamt of Super Bowl last year for New England.
I think an easy schedule and a quarterback on a rookie deal is a great combination.
You know, I'm gonna give you your credit here- Yeah because you've been saying this for over a decade.
When you wrote You've written stories, like in- Yeah Sports Illustrated back in the day.
You talked about this on The Dan Patrick Show against the grain.
Yeah.
The You always draft the next quarterback because it's a luxury item.
If it doesn't work out, you still have that rookie contract that sets up the rest of your team.
So you've been beating this drum for years that you must have a high-end rookie quarterback.
Yeah.
And if you don't get him, get another one.
Yeah, I mean, it also puts pressure.
Pressure.
A team like your team, the Bears, Caleb Williams is still on his rookie deal.
Not for long.
Yeah, I know, but it's this year.
They have a lot of talent around him.
I think that they need to make some moves, so the clock is ticking.
All right.
Speaking of quarterbacks, let's get down to college football, and I love this.
I saw that Tommy Carr, the son of legendary Lloyd Carr, the former Michigan coach- Yeah is the second-string quarterback now at Michigan.
Not a surprise.
He's a legacy.
True.
His grandfather coached there.
What is a surprise is that his older brother, C.J.
Carr, did not go to Michigan.
Now, I know we're a couple years into this, but it still amazes me.
C.J.
Carr- Yeah is now a Heisman candidate for Notre Dame.
They are in play.
There he is.
There's little Tommy Carr getting some run this year for Michigan.
C.J.
Carr is g- looking at a Heisman, he's looking at the playoffs, and somehow Michigan let him escape.
I don't know how this happened.
I read back some stories that Tommy Rees, the recruiter, and Marcus Freeman- just never let up.
They didn't take no for an answer.
They didn't let that legacy thing stop them from recruiting the heck out of C.J.
Carr, and it worked.
You know, I, I don't know if Michigan took him for granted or expected him to be there because he's a legacy, but it's a big win.
Now, luckily for Michigan, Michigan and Notre Dame- aren't playing right now.
That series is on hold, which, by the way, stinks for college football.
But if somehow C.J.
Carr wins a Heisman or goes to the national title game, or both, Michigan fans will be extra, extra salty.
Yeah, I know.
It's funny, I remember when C.J.
Carr got to Notre Dame.
I'm like, "That's funny, he has the same last name as Lloyd Carr from Michigan.
I wonder why he's at Notre Dame."
You actually texted me and said, "He can't be related to Lloyd Carr, right?"
Yeah, yeah.
Because if you have the same- last name as an iconic coach, I think you're required federally to go to that school.
C.J.
Was being the rebel.
It's like me drinking some other beer.
Yeah.
You gotta obviously drink Paps, although I'm not sure you do drink Paps.
Oh, not, not yet today.
All right.
I'm gonna shift gears for my warm take.
The other day, Djokovic lost his first round match in the US Open.
Now, he's 38 years old, and it dawned on me he is not going to win another Major.
He might not even reach the semifinals of another Major.
Now, I have high expectations.
I'm a tennis fan.
I wanted to see him kind of go out on top.
It was a reminder that hardly anyone goes out on top.
Whether it's Djoker, whether it's Tiger Woods, the end is always kind of ugly, and that makes me think about a couple guys, playing this year.
Aaron Rodgers in Pittsburgh.
He might be okay.
They might make the playoffs.
The odds are it's not gonna look great, Paul.
And it also reminds me of another guy.
I'm a 76ers fan.
LeBron James, I mean, listen, there's a lot of talent in Philly- and he can help all the young players, but to think that he's gonna be the real LeBron James, it's kind of like the Djoker.
It's a bit of fantasy.
And once again, we're reminded old stars don't go out on top.
Yeah.
You know, there's one John Elway.
95% of the time they go out struggling, and it's a sad reality, but it might be the truth.
Yeah.
There's a couple guys I'd like to mention here.
I think LeBron will go out pretty well because the team he built around him takes less pressure off him.
Yeah.
I would say he's in better position than I expected him to be- Okay for the next team.
I would say that Tom Brady is a guy jumps out to me.
When he won that Super Bowl in Tampa, he should have ran to retire.
Yeah.
And he did for five weeks.
But he, but he still had the bad last year, though.
That's what I'm saying.
You gotta get it- That bad last year out of your system.
That bad last, last year, you know, Brady will remember that forever.
I wish Brady would've got that Super Bowl.
Peyton Manning, he limped to the finish and ran for retirement when he got that Super Bowl.
Well, it's funny because he went out with a ring.
Yes.
But do we really remember it as going out on top?
It wasn't pretty- Yeah but it was a ring.
Brady should have got that ring and just wrapped it up.
Yeah.
We'll see.
I, I think that the end's always bad.
I am d- after watching Djoker, believe it or not, I'm going to, lower my expectations on the Steelers.
Does that make any sense, watching a tennis match affecting your football bets?
Oh, that's what we do on That's My Take.
We work in Djokovic to Aaron Rodgers in one step.
We don't have to do Kevin Bacon game-
