With second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart sidelined for the season after suffering a brutal knee injury in Week 2 against the Los Angeles Rams, many wondered if the New York Giants would add another quarterback to compete with backup Jameis Winston for the team’s remaining 15 games. The Giants answered those questions when they sent a fifth-round pick to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for former top-10 pick J.J. McCarthy, who lost his starting job to two-time Pro Bowler Kyler Murray during training camp.
New York’s plan seems to be to let Winston start until McCarthy gets acclimated with the playbook. Some have wondered what the Giants plan to do if McCarthy plays well. They would then go into the offseason with two first-round QBs both 23 or younger.
However, NFL insider Jonathan Jones of The Athletic reported on Saturday that’s exactly how the team planned it out. In this scenario, New York would have shored up its quarterback position this season for the cost of only McCarthy’s $836,108 base salary.” Best-case scenario for New York would be for McCarthy, who the Giants reportedly were interested in drafting back in 2024, to play well enough to entice a QB-needy team to part with a fifth-round pick or better to pry him away next offseason. The Giants drafted Dart with the 25th overall pick in the 2025 draft.
In the 16 games he’s played, he’s shown more flashes of being a future franchise quarterback than McCarthy has. Dart has thrown for 2,522 yards, 18 touchdowns and five interceptions with a 94.8 passer rating during that time. He’s also added 541 yards rushing and nine more scores on the ground.
Conversely, McCarthy has totaled 1,632 yards passing, 11 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, 181 yards rushing, and four more TDs on the ground across 10 games played.
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