There’s a new quarterback in the NFC East.
In the aftermath of Jaxson Dart suffering a season-ending injury last week, the New York Giants have reportedly acquired J.J. McCarthy in a trade with Minnesota Vikings.
McCarthy has become a meme (quite literally) since his NFL career hasn’t gone well for him thus far. The No. 10 overall pick from the 2024 NFL Draft missed his entire rookie season due to injury before throwing 11 touchdowns to 12 interceptions for a 72.6 passer rating last year.
With the Vikings
adding Kyler Murray and re-signing Carson Wentz, McCarthy’s struggles dropped him to being Minnesota’ third quarterback option. Not great.
From an optics standpoint, I can get why people think it’s funny for the Giants to trade for him as it relates to any improbable effort to help keep their season alive.
But I don’t think this is a bad trade for the G-Men.
What’s the downside? Giving up a 2027 fifth-round pick? They already were projected to have two of them in that round so they still have one.
McCarthy, who turns 24 in January, probably stinks. He might not even get on the field ahead of Jameis Winston?
But McCarthy is probably better than Jake Haener, who was QB2 in Week 3. And if the Giants reach a point later this season where they’re eliminated, there’s really nothing to learn from playing Winston. They could look to play McCarthy and hope he shows some potential, either as a future option for them (backup or otherwise) or a potential trade piece in the offseason. McCarthy is under contract for the 2027 season.
Unless Winston gets hurt or egregiously struggles, I’m guessing the Philadelphia Eagles won’t see McCarthy when the Birds face the Giants in Week 9. But maybe he’ll be starting by the time the Eagles take on the Giants again in Week 18.
