As the New York Giants come out of their bye week and head into a pivotal matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles, fans and experts remain conflicted about what to make of J.J. McCarthy following his impressive first start with the team.
One player familiar with the NFC East rivalry between the Giants and Eagles isn’t buying into the McCarthy craze just yet. Longtime Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb appeared on Up and Adams earlier this week and discussed why he isn’t sold on McCarthy’s play thus far.
Donovan McNabb isn't buying the JJ McCarthy hype just yet 😮@donovanjmcnabb | @heykayadams pic.twitter.com/xtohhfGzNC
— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) November 2, 2026
“Where he was drafted (10th overall), I thought it was a stretch. It’s the same stretch that the Giants went with Daniel Jones in
drafting him so high (6th overall). Now, he [McCarthy] was in a system, kind of a West Coast system, where he was asked to manage the game at Michigan," McNabb said. "He had a great running game, utilized the quick game and intermediate game, and the thing that kind of boosted him was his mobility—his ability to get outside the pocket and scramble when needed.
"Now, he’s not Lamar Jackson or anyone like that, but he’s serviceable enough to get outside the pocket. What you’re seeing is the type of offense that he ran under Jim Harbaugh, which John has incorporated into what he’s doing with the Giants. It’s a run-the-football, downhill mid-zone and inside-zone approach. It’s the quick game, and you’re running some boots and nakeds to get him outside the pocket.
"Now, he looks efficient when he’s connecting on slants or hitches or maybe quick outs or curls, and he occasionally might get a deep ball up the middle versus Cover 2 or something like that, and everyone’s like, ‘he’s rolling.’ But until you start to blitz him and stop the run—when you stop the run and start blitzing him, you force the ball to stay in his hands so he has to make decisions. That’s when you’ll see the J.J. McCarthy that we’ve seen throughout his first couple of years in Minnesota.”
The comparison of the draft-day reach to Daniel Jones is ironic, considering McCarthy is now playing for the franchise that drafted Jones back in 2019—and the same franchise that passed on McCarthy at sixth overall in 2024 in favor of Malik Nabers. However, with head coach John Harbaugh now in place, the Giants are looking to maximize McCarthy’s strengths.
Reactions to McCarthy’s performance so far with the Giants have been mixed, and McNabb isn’t the first former quarterback to express that he isn’t sold on the former 10th overall pick.
McCarthy, who was brought in to run an offense closer to what the team had envisioned coming into the season with Jaxson Dart, didn’t show much of his mobility in his first start.
He looked calm and seemed to have control of the offense in his first game as the Giants’ starter. However, that may be a different story this week at Lincoln Financial Field against a stingy Eagles defense, which may prove to be a bigger test for McCarthy than the matchup he faced in his first start.
There is no doubt that over the five quarters McCarthy has been under center for the Giants, he has been impressive. The Giants are in prime position to win the division if they play competent football throughout the second half of the season. McCarthy’s play will go a long way toward determining whether the Giants can capture their first division title in over a decade.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Donovan McNabb not sold on New York Giants QB J.J. McCarthy
