The New York Giants acquired quarterback J.J. McCarthy from the Minnesota Vikings for a 2027 fifth-round pick on Monday, adding another young player at the most important position in football less than a week after learning Jaxson Dart would be out for at least the rest of the regular season because of a knee injury.
“We’ve been talking about it ever since, I think, Jaxson got hurt, that we would need to add a quarterback — quarterbacks,” Giants coach John Harbaugh said. “We’ve been turning over every stone. This was an opportunity that kind of came up and able to finish the deal off.”
McCarthy, the 10th pick in the 2024 draft, gets a change of scenery after losing the starting job in Minnesota to Kyler Murray and falling behind Carson Wentz on the depth chart. McCarthy started 10 games last season, completing 57.6% of his passes for 1,632 yards, 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
“Nothing about this changes the way I feel about J.J. or the hopes I have for him," said Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell, who had what he called an emotional 1-on-1 meeting with McCarthy about the trade. "I think it’s a good opportunity in New York and, as I told him, I’ll be pulling for him like crazy to see him go and do well and apply a lot of the things that we talked about in his period of time here.”
McCarthy missed what would have been his rookie season after injuring his right knee. He was picked a year ahead of Dart, but each was born in 2003, with McCarthy being just four months older.
Long term, that sets up a fascinating situation for New York, with Dart, Jameis Winston and McCarthy all under contract for next season. For now, McCarthy joins in a reserve role to learn the offense, while Harbaugh reiterated that Winston will start again Sunday against Arizona after beating Tennessee despite not scoring a touchdown and having just 238 yards of offense.
By making this aggressive move, Harbaugh, general manager Joe Schoen and the Giants are doubling down on trying to contend now, even after losing Dart and linebacker Brian Burns to season-ending knee injuries.
“You need another quarterback, in our situation, and you want to go get the very best quarterback you could get, which is what we did,” Harbaugh said. “Very talented player and is going to make us a stronger football team.”
There is familial familiarity with McCarthy, who won the national title at Michigan in his final college season playing for John's younger brother Jim Harbaugh.
“He always had good things to say about J.J.,” John Harbaugh said. “When Jim was there, that was a team I watched closely, so I’ve watched J.J. play a lot.”
It is still possible the Giants bring in another quarterback, though they did not hold tryouts Monday, according to the league's transactions report. Jake Haener backed up Winston during the Titans game and figures to stick around on the practice squad, with either he or McCarthy serving in that role this weekend.
“You never know,” Harbaugh said. “I would say all options are on the table.”
For the Vikings, the trade served as yet another reminder of the quarterback carousel the franchise has continually found itself on. Murray and Wentz are set to be free agents next spring, so the organization will yet again be forced to make multiple decisions and evaluations about who to build around for next season and beyond. Murray became the ninth different starting quarterback since Kirk Cousins took the field at Green Bay on Oct. 29, 2023, and tore his Achilles tendon.
“A lot of the decisions that we make and that we’re forced to make in football we have to make in a moment in time as opposed to hypotheticals in the future," GM Nolan Teasley said. "And so that’s really reflective of this decision, that we think it’s in the best interests of the Minnesota Vikings right now.”
McCarthy was the fifth quarterback taken among the record six selected in the first 12 picks in the 2024 draft, when Caleb Williams went to Chicago, Jayden Daniels to Washington and Drake Maye to New England with the first three spots. Michael Penix was picked eighth by Atlanta, followed by McCarthy at No. 10 and Bo Nix to Denver at No. 12.
McCarthy lost only three games as the starter through high school and college, including a 27-1 record at Michigan on the way to the championship, but he came to the Vikings with minimal experience as a pro-style passer after being in Jim Harbaugh's run-heavy offense. The energy and toughness that helped McCarthy become a winner and a leader at the lower levels worked against him at times last season, with a tendency for recklessness and a pattern of inaccuracy that contributed to his disappointing debut.
“Sometimes things don’t work out how you envisioned or how you planned or how you hoped, and that doesn’t change the intent," O'Connell said. “That doesn’t change the work that got put into it by J.J. himself and what he’s meant within this building since the time we first got him. So, I believe in the collective work that was put in, and I believe in J.J. and the intent and the work that he put in. This is just where we are.”
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