Giants QB Jaxson Dart addresses intro of President, talks with his teammates

[0:00] appreciate y'all being here um i understand that um there's probably going to be questions that [0:08] involve um off the field topics and um for that um i have a statement and i hope um i can answer [0:17] as many of those questions that y'all may have and um i ask that um talk can talk about football [0:25] after that and i hope that um you know we can understand and respect that from each other [0:31] um no obviously this was a unique opportunity um you know being asked and um and given the [0:41] opportunity to introduce the president of the united states um you know my thinking was was [0:47] pretty simple um and the fact of um you know i've always loved this country um i have extended family [0:56] members who have fought in wars um i have two uncles who have retired from the air force academy [1:02] um and served themselves um and uh i even have a great grandfather who served as secretary of [1:10] treasury at some point so the the president position has always been um a position that i've well [1:17] respected regardless of political affiliation regardless of um political party and um you know my my [1:28] my intentions were were just that um i also understand in in this world politics can be a sensitive [1:37] matter a sensitive topic um i also understand that i am the quarterback of the new york giants and [1:44] that involves a lot of responsibility um it's under a limelight under a microscope and um there's a lot [1:51] that comes with that and it's been something that i've embraced i've loved being here i've loved the city [1:56] of new york i love the the city of new jersey the people that i've met here um it's just been a really [2:01] amazing experience and there's not another place that i'd rather be um you know most importantly [2:07] um the people in this organization my teammates um the staff um coaches everybody that has a hand [2:16] um jose uh you name it you know i've loved um making relationships with them and and and growing [2:24] connections and that's that's the kind of person that i am i'm a connector i love making relationships [2:28] with people i love hearing everybody's stories and and um being somebody who you know people can [2:35] can uh rely on to be there for them um and most importantly i can i can honestly say that i love [2:44] every single you know one of my brothers my teammates on this team um regardless of politics [2:51] regardless of religious beliefs regardless of anything um that may be different between us like [2:58] i love them um and they know exactly what kind of person that i am who comes into the facility every [3:04] every day and um you know who lays you know i lay my body on the line for my guys each and every week [3:09] and uh you know it's it's it's from the connections that we build the love that we have for each other [3:15] um and you know i've been somebody who's who's always respected you know the different perspectives [3:21] that people may have the backgrounds that they come from i understand that you know we have such a [3:26] cool um opportunity as people you know to be in a locker room where it's a melting pot of people [3:32] from everywhere and we get to to be together um and uh you know i think that the the connections that we [3:44] build um are special because you know we're able to have vulnerable conversations we're able to to [3:49] learn from each other to support each other um irrespective of the color of our skin and um you know [3:57] we have a real brotherhood um we've had a lot of honest conversations um with each other as a team and uh [4:05] i keep those i like to keep those things private between me and my teammates and um and just [4:12] everything that's been said um but you know i love these guys and and going forward i i can't wait for [4:18] what more we have to grow you know the culture of of this team our brotherhood and um obviously we [4:25] understand the the biggest goal is is to be the best team that we can be um to put ourselves in the best [4:30] position to succeed uh to chase the championship um to be the best players for coach harbs and and all [4:37] the coaches here and uh you know that's our focus going forward each and every day and um can't wait [4:43] to to continue to do that appreciate you guys you understand why introducing that president to be [4:54] something that some of your teammates would have a problem with and why it's new this controversial [4:58] well i respect the question um i understand the question um you know my statements all that i have [5:07] um for you guys right now and um that's just that's that's where i'm at do you think you made a mistake [5:16] um like i just gave my statement so um ask that you know we can all respect and understand that [5:22] that's where i'm at right now one thing did you did you um were you taken aback by what happened [5:29] afterwards this is not a political question this is a football you know society question were you [5:35] surprised after you did that how this blew up into what it blew up into um i think um you know obviously [5:48] we've had conversations as a team um you know i think that this is you know just kind of the the [5:55] situation that was at hand was um you know i don't think that you ever really expect things to be [6:02] exactly what they are exactly what they are i would say um but you know from from my point of view um [6:10] what i said earlier is what i have right now and um yeah i'm looking forward to to continue to get [6:16] better as a team and to grow our relationships so thank you for two more as the leader of the team [6:20] did you feel like you needed to address your teammates about this is that something john said to you [6:24] about this week about addressing this with your teammates or that's something you wanted to do [6:28] i'm open with with all my teammates so um i think that it was a very um you know everybody [6:34] saw it the same way and and then for me uh you know we we as as teammates want to become closer be [6:40] the best you know when you're on the field and you're playing in front of the world and uh you're [6:44] in vulnerable positions you got to be able to to trust you know the man next to you and so i think that [6:50] you know the most important thing that we have together is communication so um you know i that was kind [6:55] of my point of view and um you know we all want to communicate and uh and be honest and and share [7:01] our perspectives um from every side and and and and just communicate and i think that that's what's [7:07] so special about the team that we have here is um our ability to do that right uh that was that how [7:17] important was that to you to do and did you reach out to him and how did that did you initiate that [7:23] and make sure that that happened after you saw his comment yeah i mean we just we just talked um you [7:38] know me and abdul came here at the same time we shared a lot of very similar experiences we've [7:43] experienced um adversity through a season and had to have each other's backs and that's exactly what we [7:48] continue to to do today um you know me and him are you know one of the closer guys on the team with [7:55] each other so um you know we've had a lot of conversation and he's my brother you know i know [8:01] that i'm a brother to him and um you know at the end of the day we want to be the best people and players [8:06] for each other