Jaxson Dart hit the ground running in his first NFL start and ultimately emerged as QB1 on a points-per-start basis in 2025 Fantasy Football leagues. After watching the Chiefs offense regress since Matt Nagy took over as offensive coordinator (Andy Reid was still calling the plays), many fans have since grown skeptical of the Nagy hire for the Giants and what it means for the Fantasy Football value of Dart, Cam Skattebo and more.
Dave Richard has ranked all 18 new play-callers by worst for Fantasy to best, and we’re going team by team through his rankings to see how your perception of every key player in Fantasy should change to get you ready for Fantasy Football draft season. Up at No. 13: Matt Nagy and the Giants.
Who’s new?
Former Bears head coach and Chiefs offensive coordinator (but not playcaller) Matt Nagy will spearhead a coaching think-tank with run-game coordinator Greg Roman (formerly with the Chargers and Ravens) and QB coach Brian Callahan (formerly the head coach of the Titans). Nagy is an Andy Reid disciple, meaning he’s well-versed in the old school version of the West Coast offense.
What’s expected this year?
Nagy’s biggest influence might not be Reid or any other current assistant coaches but instead new Giants coach John Harbaugh, who commanded his Baltimore offenses run the ball a lot. In eighteen seasons the Ravens were above a 60% pass rate three times and between 56% and 59% three other times. That low volume is right in line with what we saw from the Giants when Jaxson Dart was on the field last year, averaging a pass on 51.4% of his plays. New York’s offensive line now looks like it could be one of the better front fives in football. That’ll help the Giants run game smash and crash into defenses. Certainly sounds like Cam Skattebo will get a crack at a lot of volume provided his leg is healed from a gnarly ankle dislocation and fractured fibula. He’s previously reported he’ll be ready for Week 1. When Nagy last called plays in Chicago he called passes on a 58.5% average rate, though that included a high 62.3% in 2020 and a low 54.8% in 2018. His pace was never faster than 39.7 seconds between plays. Tight ends were prominently featured, earning an 18.1% or higher target share in three of his four years in Chicago while his running back target share was ridiculously high in 2018-19 (26% each year; Tarik Cohen was healthy) and lower after (17.4% or less). Allen Robinson had back-to-back years with roughly 9.5 targets per game, Darnell Mooney stepped up the following year with 8.3.
Winners and losers for Fantasy
Skattebo averaged 16 carries and 4.7 targets and scored six times in the six games he played a major role in and finished last year. Had he kept that up and not gotten hurt he would be a first-round pick. All the talk out of New York revolves around feeding Skattebo but it’s hard to recover from the injury he had (others have struggled to regain form), and his playing style opens him up to more injuries. Nagy’s history with running backs, especially those who can catch, is a big positive for Skattebo. Drafting him and Tyrone Tracy Jr. should lock up this backfield for the year. Jaxson Dart’s outlook will be tied to Malik Nabers’ recovery from last year’s ACL and meniscus injury, but if the receiver isn’t his normal self and Nagy won’t call for a lot of passing and Dart doesn’t run as much as he did last season, then his chances of having a good sophomore season are low. All of this changes if Nabers is fine at some point this preseason, however. I’ve come around on Isaiah Likely, however. The former Ravens tight end followed Harbaugh to New York and has a chance to be second (or maybe even first?) on the team in targets. Nagy’s history with tight ends does make Likely an interesting Fantasy starter to begin the year. Darnell Mooney’s reunion with Nagy is a nice story, but it would be shocking if Mooney, five years removed from his best year with Nagy in Chicago, became a Fantasy staple.
