Giants Trade Fifth-Round Pick for J.J. McCarthy, Sparking Confusion Over Roster Logic

The New York Giants have found their new quarterback to pair with Jameis Winston, as Joe Schoen sent a fifth-round pick to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for former No. 10 overall selection J.J. McCarthy. If you were confused or surprised by this, you're not alone. This trade doesn't make sense -- in more ways than one.

We knew that McCarthy was on the Giants' list. Not only is there a Harbaugh connection, as John's brother coached McCarthy during his successful career at Michigan, but ESPN reported that he was on New York's short list that included Jimmy Garoppolo, Arizona Cardinals backup Gardner Minshew, San Francisco 49ers backup Mac Jones and Kansas City Chiefs backup Justin Fields. Maybe McCarthy isn't the worst quarterback on that list, but trading for him maybe makes the least sense out of all those options.

The Giants have a prospective franchise quarterback in the injured Jaxson Dart -- unless you want to argue this move means the Giants are interested in McCarthy as their long-term signal-caller. Then, the Giants have one of the better backup quarterbacks in the NFL in Winston. I'm not claiming this fun-loving walking quote is Nick Foles, but he's better than many of the second-stringers out there. So, is McCarthy an upgrade over him? Or did the Giants throw away a fifth-round pick for another backup?

"Really happy, very excited to add J.J. McCarthy," Giants head coach John Harbaugh said on Monday. "Think he's a strong young quarterback. Has some experience in National Football League. Obviously, was a very high draft pick, very talented player, and is going to make us a stronger football team. So excited about it. Think it makes us better and get him in here as soon as we can, get to work on learning the offense. Obviously, that's going to be a challenge. But we'll go to work on that, and that's where we're at."

Is McCarthy really going to make this a "stronger football team?" Was this swing even worth it? Let's examine why this trade was confusing.

McCarthy hasn't been good

I don't have to prove that McCarthy has struggled through his first three NFL seasons. He famously lost the Vikings quarterback battle to Kyler Murray this offseason, and was demoted to QB3 behind Carson Wentz.

In his one season as the starter for the Vikings, McCarthy went 6-4 in a year where Minnesota finished 9-8. That's a pretty decent win-loss record, but McCarthy became the only first-round pick at quarterback since 1970 to finish last in completion percentage and TD-INT ratio in their debut season. It's true that every young quarterback needs some time to develop. After all, it was Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell that once said, "Organizations fail young quarterbacks before young quarterbacks fail organizations." However, his tune changed when it was the quarterback holding the rest of the team back. Minnesota had a top three defense in 2025 and a talented supporting cast headlined by Justin Jefferson. It's understood why O'Connell elected for a change.

J.J. McCarthy2025 season Completion percentage 57.6% Passing yards per game 163.2 TD-INT 11-12

McCarthy is still learning the position, but now he's going to be asked to enter a new building, learn a new system and make a legitimate impact in the next few months? Is he even an upgrade over Winston? That's definitely not a given.

No one is claiming that McCarthy's NFL career is over, but he's in some dangerous company right now. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, McCarthy is just the fourth first-round quarterback over the past quarter century to start 10 or fewer games for the team that drafted them. The others are bona fide busts in Paxton Lynch, Trey Lance and Johnny Manziel. Lynch and Manziel were never traded for, while the Dallas Cowboys made the baffling decision to trade a fourth-round pick to the 49ers for Lance in 2023. He ended up making just one start for the team, so Jerry Jones probably regrets that trade.

The situation and compensation

Here's the real reason the trade doesn't make sense to me. I would imagine the ideal landing spot for McCarthy would be an established team that wanted to take a flier on a developmental option. Not a team looking for a new starting quarterback. The Giants would not have made this trade if Dart didn't go down with his knee injury in Week 2.

McCarthy has two more years remaining on his rookie deal if we include this season. Winston is under contract for three more years through 2028. So is this a move made understanding the Giants could change their outlook on McCarthy? If he can't come in and save the season, maybe they change his "status" to a developmental option behind the oft-injured Dart -- who has paid a visit to the blue medical tent in 44% of his NFL starts, per CBS Sports Research.

In addition to questions about where exactly McCarthy stands with this roster and what the expectations are for him, I don't like the fact that it cost New York a fifth-round pick to acquire a question mark. Maybe some fans are fine taking a swing of the bat on a Day 3 pick, but McCarthy cost more than what Joe Flacco did last year. About 12 months ago, the Cincinnati Bengals sent the Cleveland Browns a fifth-round pick for a 40-year-old Flacco, plus a sixth-round pick. They got a pick swap for a veteran who came in and put up gaudy numbers with 1,636 yards, 13 touchdowns and four interceptions in six starts.

Sure, a fifth-round pick is a lot cheaper than the No. 10 overall selection Minnesota used to draft McCarthy, but the Vikings accepting this deal probably says something. Despite what was objectively a disastrous investment in the 2024 NFL Draft, CBS Sports' Tyler Sullivan says Minnesota easily won this trade, grading the Vikings more than a full letter higher than the Giants.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe McCarthy comes in and saves the Giants' season. Maybe New York turns to him as the full-time starter in 2027 when Dart suffers another injury. I'd be surprised if that happened.