Joel Klatt explains why Jaxson Dart will not be a first round pick in 2025 NFL Draft

Jaxson Dart is Joel Klatt’s third best quarterback in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft, behind Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward.

While the Fox Sports analyst is a big fan of the Ole Miss signal caller, Dart won’t be a first round pick, per Klatt. He’s got the tools, but he won’t be in the first 32 picks come late April.

He explained why on The Joel Klatt Show.

“Well, the reason he’s not going to be a first round pick, or at least in my estimations unless someone reaches, is that he’s got to show a better command after the second read,” Klatt said. “So you heard me talk about him doing a great job of getting the ball out of his hand quickly. That’s right when he can get the ball out of his hand fast, an RPO, a ratio or leverage throw, a seam ball right down the seam, which is generally the first or second read.

“He’s very good, but as soon as he needs to go from the early foundation, number one, number two, and try to get to three or four, he quickly loses connection with his feet and what’s going on with his eyes.” 

Since the NFL game moves faster, obviously, Dart needs to be able to go deeper into his reads and progressions. Ultimately that leads to being a better decision maker.

“And then it can kind of deteriorate,” Klatt continued. “It deteriorated against Florida, right? And he turned the football over. That wasn’t very good for them, which I brought up to Lane on Twitter, but generally speaking, if he’s in rhythm, if the ball can leave his hand quickly, it’s solid. I like it a lot. At the NFL level, that’s not always going to happen for you, and you have to show the ability to have command and connection in both your feet and your eyes, and what’s going on from a command perspective. 

“In terms of the way you’re reading the defense, you have to show that to three to four and the ability to control the entire field, a full field read, and that’s where I think he’s going to need some growth.”

Dart set career highs during his final season at Ole Miss. He finished with 4,279 yards, 29 touchdowns, six interceptions and a 69.3% completion percentage. Over the course of his career with Ole Miss, and his freshman year at USC, Dart finished with 11,970 yards, 81 touchdowns, 27 interceptions and a 65.2% completion percentage.