Mike Florio: Jaxson Dart didn’t answer the most important question

On Friday, New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart addressed the media for the first time since introducing President Donald Trump at a rally, igniting a media firestorm and raising all kinds of questions about his role in the locker room and responsibilities as a team leader.

Dart’s decision to align himself with Trump, whose controversial statements, social media posts, and policies have made him deeply unpopular, prompted a shocked reaction from teammate Abdul Carter, further fueling the situation.

Dart said in a prepared statement that his decision to introduce Trump was simply out of respect for the office and in light of his family’s history of military service. While adding that he understands “the world of politics can be a sensitive matter,” he deflected when asked whether he understood why standing with Trump would have been an issue for his teammates and whether he thought he’d made a mistake. In both instances, he said that his statement would be his only response on the matter.

PFT’s Mike Florio understands how the PR sausage is made and why Dart stuck to his statement. However, he also thinks Dart did himself a disservice by not answering the question about how his decision impacted his teammates.

“Somebody came up with the bright idea, and I don’t mean that sarcastically, like, ‘Well, how are we going to deal with this? All right, let’s just say this isn’t about politics, it’s about the office,'” Florio said on Monday’s PFT Live. “‘I’ve got this long history. Family members fought in wars. Great-grandfather was Secretary of the Treasury. I respect the office of the president. This isn’t political. This is the president, whoever the president may be. I respect the office and it’s an honor to introduce the president. Let’s separate it from politics.’

“But then he gets the most important question. ‘Do you realize how this is going to be viewed by your teammates, given the unique, to say the least, personality of this president?’ And he punted. He punted.

“That’s the only question that needed to be answered. And well, ‘I’ll refer back to my statement,’ but your statement doesn’t address that. Your statement tries to make it apolitical. You can’t. It’s impossible to make that gesture at this moment, in this time, apolitical. Merely being there and introducing the president is a political statement.

“That’s where I think we need to be realistic, and anybody who would say it’s not political is trying to advance their own agenda to excuse Dart and criticize Abdul Carter.”

Florio added that anyone who thinks this won’t remain an issue in the locker room, regardless of how much it’s been smoothed over at the moment, “is either stupid or lying.”