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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Chris Simms is bullish on the 2026 New York Giants.
“I feel like I’m as excited about the Giants as I’ve been in a while,” Simms said during an exclusive conversation with Big Blue View on Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “I definitely had some excitement with Brian Daboll and that year [2022]. So I don’t want to take away from that, but I feel like John Harbaugh fits the Giants. I feel like his overall mentality is the Giant way. I believe he sees the game the way the great Giant teams were kind of built in the past. I think he’s got that [Tom] Coughlin, Bill Parcells, we’re gonna be bigger, tougher, more physical than everybody on the football field. So I love that.
“The quarterback I love, man. I mean, Malik [Nabers] I know is not gonna be totally healthy himself right away to start the year, but he’s still a superstar. With Wan’Dale. Oline probably could help out a little there. Maybe another running back. I think that’s certainly something you can look at, too. But then you’ve got three legit pass rushers on defense and one of the best defensive tackles in football. I think the Giants can be one of those teams that every year we look at those teams, who’s at the bottom and who could be that team that kind of comes up and surprises people. I think the Giants have a chance to be that.”
Assessing Jaxson Dart’s rookie season
Count Simms as a big Jaxson Dart fan.
“It was phenomenal,” Simms said of Dart’s rookie year. “I think I’m still shocked that Jaxson Dart only got one vote for offensive rookie of the year.
“I want to get on the microphone and be like, guys the biggest rookie we talked about for seven, eight weeks of the year, it was Jaxson Dart. How the did he not get more votes? Are you kidding me? That to me was shocking, but his natural ability and feel for the game, the way he moves the pocket, he’s a better athlete than I gave him credit for coming outta Ole Miss.
Like everyone else — except probably opposing defensive players — Simms wants Dart to protect himself better.
“His only thing is what we’ve talked, what everybody talks about and I said it to him at the Super Bowl, I was like, can we not get hit so hard in the New England game that we bounce off the turf? You got hit so hard, you hit the turf. He goes, I got up pretty quick, too. I go, no, you didn’t get up. You got hit so hard, you bounced back up. Yeah. We don’t need that. And I think it’s starting to hit home with him a little bit.
“We all know, availability is the best ability.“
Matt Nagy ‘a hell of a football coach’
Harbaugh wanted Todd Monken to come with him from the Baltimore Ravens to run the Giants’ offense. Monken became head coach of the Cleveland Browns. Matt Nagy and the Kansas City Chiefs, where Nagy was offensive coordinator, parted ways.
Nagy couldn’t get a head-coaching job. He landed with the Giants and Harbaugh. Simms believes Nagy’s experience with the Chiefs will help Dart.
“It didn’t seem like Kansas City was gonna bring him back, right? They were kinda like, go ahead and we’re gonna part ways. So it’s not necessarily the biggest vote of confidence there, but I like Matt Nagy. I do. I think he’s a hell of a football coach,” Simms said. “I think he’s tough. I think his experience being around [Patrick] Mahomes and not over coaching the quarterback to be a robot and realizing like, hey, I don’t want you to lose your feel or your pocket awareness or that backyard ability. And I think that’s something you have to do with Jaxson Dart and the fact that he has experience in that I think it’s gonna only help everybody out.”
A surprising best coaching staff hire
There are those who believe hiring Dennard Wilson as defensive coordinator was a mistake after a rough season in 2025. Not Simms.
“I’m a huge fan of Dennard Wilson. Like, huge. I think he’s one of the best defensive minds in football,” Simms said. “People are gonna look at the stats of the Tennessee Titan defense and go, they weren’t that good. And it’s like, no, no, no context matters. Okay? Their defense was good. Their offense sucked. And when you have to be on the field every fourth play, you eventually break down and die out, right?
“So yeah, I’m a, I’m a big fan of Dennard. I think that’s one of the under the radar, best signings the Giants have had.
A running back at No. 5?
Harbaugh wants a player with “gold jacket” potential at No. 5 in the 2026 NFL Draft.
“If you wanna change around your team in the hurry, and I know we’re a little burned by this in our organization, but man, I would not be mad if they took Jerimayah Love at number five. I would not. Jerimayah Love is definitely one of the two or three best players in the draft.
“I know people are gonna come back and go, well that didn’t help them with the Giants and Saquon [Barkley] and I wanna go, yeah, well they gotta have some semblance of an offensive line. I understand that. There was nothing that could be done there. But at the same time when he went to Philly we saw he changed their team around, what Derrick Henry’s done. Running the football is back in vogue in the NFL. And so yeah, I kinda look at that and I go, you want one pick that’s gonna go, oh crap, that offense is scary now? I mean that’s kinda one I look at and I am somewhat kind of rooting for it, actually.”