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Jaxson Dart isn’t generating draft buzz to the level of Miami’s Cam Ward or Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders.
But no other quarterback in this year’s NFL Draft crop is either. And just because the former Ole Miss star isn’t projected to go in the top half of the first round of this spring’s draft like Ward and Sanders doesn’t mean Dart isn’t a coveted QB.
Dart threw for an astounding 4,279 yards, 29 touchdowns and just 6 interceptions in 2024 to cap a stellar 3-season run in Oxford. On Saturday, he put on a skills show for NFL scouts at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.
Surely, his performance on Saturday will have some effect on where Dart lands in the draft. But obviously his skills were on display for some time at Ole Miss, and his collegiate performance in Oxford will translate to Dart going pretty high in the draft. ESPN draft expert Field Yates actually thinks Dart could go in the first round, in the back half of that first round but in the first round nonetheless.
Yates had this to say recently about Dart’s draft prospects and on Dart possibly going in the first round:
I think it’s Jaxson Dart from Ole Miss, who broke Eli Manning’s school record for passing yards this past season. He’s got a ton of experience. He began his college career at USC, finished up at Ole Miss, and he had a brilliant game to cap his college career against Duke in the bowl game. Good athlete, he can throw on the run as well. It’s going to be a transition, because the offense he played in at Ole Miss does not look a whole lot like most NFL offenses.
That being said, when you combine the athleticism and the accuracy, I do think there’s a chance that by the time it’s all said and done, he sneaks into the first round. I had him going 21st overall to the Pittsburgh Steelers in my most recent mock draft.
We’ll find out in a few months where Dart goes, first round or not, and what team is lucky enough to get its hands on the former Rebels star.
(H/T On3 Sports)
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
