The New York Giants took a flier on a project quarterback when they acquired 2024 first-round draft pick J.J. McCarthy from the Minnesota Vikings for a 2027 fifth-round draft choice earlier this week.
It sounds like an NFL scout and an assistant coach think Giants fans should be realistic about what McCarthy will and won’t offer the club.
Vikings may know all there is to know about J.J. McCarthy
“There’s no doubt McCarthy has talent,” the scout told Ralph Vacchiano of Fox Sports for an article published on Thursday. “He’s probably a good fit for what [the Giants] want to do, too. But honestly, if the Vikings were willing to dump their one-time franchise quarterback for a fifth-round pick, you really got to wonder what they know. Teams don’t usually dump young quarterbacks like that, especially ones they took 10th overall.”
The Vikings discarded McCarthy, who spent his entire rookie season recovering from a full meniscus repair, after he made just 10 regular-season starts for the club. This summer, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell named free-agent signing Kyler Murray the team’s Week 1 starter before Minnesota’s first preseason game arrived. Later, O’Connell relegated McCarthy to QB3 duties behind journeyman Carson Wentz.
“Think about that,” the assistant coach told Vacchiano. “[McCarthy] couldn’t beat out Murray or Wentz. That doesn’t happen to a high first-round pick. That’s what happens with late-round and practice squad-type guys. So that tells you everything about what Minnesota thinks of him. Maybe a change of scenery will help. But O’Connell is pretty good with quarterbacks. If he couldn’t get anything out of the kid, I don’t know if anyone on the Giants can.”
Not everybody agrees with those J.J. McCarthy assessments
Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh served as McCarthy’s coach when the two were at the University of Michigan, and Harbaugh seemingly helped convince Giants head coach and brother John Harbaugh to give McCarthy a chance to jump-start his career with the NFC East team.
“A fresh start with people that chose him is a good thing,” a talent evaluator told Vacchiano while speaking about McCarthy. “The Harbaugh history helps, too. (Giants offensive coordinator) Matt Nagy, I would think, knows what he’s doing, too. It reminds me of when guys like Mac Jones, Sam Darnold or Baker Mayfield go somewhere to back up and hopefully become a starter somewhere else someday.”
Nagy seemingly isn’t in a rush to insert McCarthy into the New York lineup over Jameis Winston, who will start for the 2-1 Giants when they host the 1-2 Arizona Cardinals this coming Sunday. That said, the Giants’ trade for McCarthy has left many outsiders assuming that John Harbaugh fears Winston won’t be an adequate replacement for injured QB1 Jaxson Dart through the rest of this season.
