The lead-up to Thursday’s NFL Draft was a bit of a roller coaster for Jaxson Dart, but the market for the former Ole Miss quarterback warmed in recent weeks.

That culminated Thursday when the New York Giants selected Dart with the 25th pick of the first round. Dart is the first Ole Miss quarterback to be drafted in the first round since Eli Manning in 2003.

New York selected Penn State linebacker Abdul Carter with the third overall pick and then traded up to get back into the first round to select Dart.

Dart’s stock rose throughout the draft process, including a strong performance in the Reese’s Senior Bowl in Mobile and a flashy Pro Day showing in Oxford.

By this week, as his stock rose and Colorado’s Sheduer Sanders’ stock wavered, Dart became a hot commodity.

“He’s very accurate. He's sneaky athletic. He makes a lot of plays," an AFC quarterbacks coach told NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero for a story earlier this week on NFL.com. "He kind of reminds me of (Atlanta’s Michael Penix Jr.) last year. I feel like (Dart is) a little bit better thrower, he has a little more arm strength. If I had the No. 1 pick and I had to pick a guy and my job was on the line, I would try to get Jaxson Dart in the conversation.”

In 45 college games (41 starts), Dart completed 65.2 percent of his passes for 11,970 yards and 81 touchdowns with 27 interceptions. He ran for another 1,543 yards and 14 TDs.

"The dude is a competitor," an AFC coordinator told NFL.com. "He's tough. He's got a plenty-strong arm. When he throws like a 15-yard out route to the field, it'll flutter a little bit, but it gets to where it needs to go to on time and in rhythm. The stuff he does with his legs and then getting extra yards and taking hits, competes, makes all the throws. Some guys throw missiles and they sometimes can be hard to catch; Jaxson Dart throws a friendly ball.”

The 6-foot-2 1/2, 223-pound Utah native led Ole Miss to an 11-win season and a win in the Peach Bowl in 2023 and then a 10-win season and a win over Duke in the Gator Bowl in 2024.

"He's accurate on the short and intermediate pass game, can anticipate throws, smart, changes his arm angle, can get outside the pocket and make throws,” an NFL scout told Pellisero. “He’s got that athletic ability, too. If he just improves consistency with some of his lower-body stuff, he'll be really good from a technique standpoint. When he does miss, it's because those things are a little out of whack. He's got some big upside."