Occasionally, the worlds of sports and politics intersect. The NFL is no different. New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart made headlines last week for supporting President Donald Trump, and he had to address his teammates to overcome the fallout.
Jaxson Dart, Giants Players Make Effort to Put Politics Behind Them
Last week, Dart introduced U.S. President Donald Trump at an event, and later pass rusher Abdul Carter took to X to publicly query why the quarterback needed to interject himself into a seemingly political situation. This week, the players met to vent and discuss the matter internally.
#Giants leaders such as Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Jameis Winston all spoke and worked to put it behind them. https://t.co/3NBLxEc32R
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 28, 2026
While it may not appear overtly political, many took the move as such. From the outside, it appeared that the primary motivation for the meeting was to discuss the matter in private, out of camera view.
“Sources told me among the topics discussed was keeping things ‘internal’ and not airing frustrations publicly. The Giants do not think this is something that is problematic now or moving forward,” wrote ESPN Giants reporter Jordan Raanan on X.
Before the dawn of social media, NFL teams would attempt to keep issues bottled up in-house so as not to distract during the season. While the team attempted to do this, some members of the NFL media took umbrage.
“Remember when football was played by men?” This is like an episode of ‘The View,'” interjected radio host Al Dukes, linking the matter to the politically charged morning talk show.
“Good leadership moves by Dart; he obviously caused a ruckus in the locker room. Glad these guys are dealing with their s**t like adults instead of letting it eat them alive, which is EXACTLY what the Giants would’ve done in the past,” said Empire Sports Media founder Alex Wilson. On top of this, fans of other teams took the opportunity to opine about the fallout.
Their season is cooked 😂😂😂 https://t.co/FVjfvEOfhf
— 👨🏼🦲Jeff✌🏼☝🏼🖐🏼 (@Philly_Bul215) May 28, 2026
“In other words, their season is fu**ing cooked, we’ll be hearing the ‘aren’t on the same page ‘by week 3,” wrote a user on X about the Giants’ outlook for the upcoming season.
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The Dart-Trump interpretation, along with the subsequent backlash and meeting, could either galvanize or fragment the team. Life in the NFL as 53 individuals with separate thoughts and beliefs never appears easy, and Dart will get a chance to redeem himself in the season opener against the Dallas Cowboys on September 13.
In his rookie season, Dart completed 63.7% of his passes for 2,272 yards with 15 touchdowns and just five interceptions across 14 games. He also added 487 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns, and according to PFSN’s QB Impact Metric, he posted an impact score of 76.3 last season, ranking 18th in the league.
