Giants Trade Fifth-Round Pick to Vikings for Bust Quarterback J.J. McCarthy

The New York Giants gave up almost nothing and got a lottery ticket. On Monday, September 28, the team acquired quarterback J.J. McCarthy from the Minnesota Vikings for a 2027 fifth-round draft pick, pending McCarthy passing a physical, according to the team's official announcement.

A fifth-rounder for a guy who was the No. 10 overall pick in 2024.

Why New York needed a QB

The trade follows Jaxson Dart's Week 2 knee injury, which required surgery and ended his rookie season, according to The Guardian. Jameis Winston stepped in and beat the Tennessee Titans 12-7 on Sunday, but the offense mustered just 238 total yards and zero touchdowns, per The Guardian's reporting.

Giants head coach Brian Daboll made clear Monday that win or no win, backup depth was thin. Jake Haener, signed off the practice squad to back up Winston, was waived the same day McCarthy's trade was announced, according to NFL.com.

"Really happy, very excited to add J.J. McCarthy," Daboll said, per the team's official release. "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."

Daboll also shut down any quarterback controversy talk before it started. "Jameis is starting," he said Monday, confirming Winston will face the Arizona Cardinals in Week 4, according to both the Giants' team site and CBS Sports.

McCarthy's Minnesota tenure was a bust

McCarthy did not work out in Minnesota. He missed his entire rookie season with a torn meniscus suffered in the preseason, according to Vikings.com. When he finally got on the field in 2025, he started 10 games, going 6-4, but completed just 57.6% of his passes for 1,632 yards with 11 touchdowns against 12 interceptions and a 72.6 passer rating, per Vikings.com and NFL.com.

Then this offseason, the Vikings brought in free agent Kyler Murray and re-signed Carson Wentz. McCarthy lost the starting job outright, with Minnesota naming Murray the Week 1 starter on August 11, according to Vikings.com. By the time Minnesota (now 3-0) traded him, McCarthy had been demoted to inactive third-string emergency quarterback. NFL.com reported the move clears roughly $4.5 million off Minnesota's books, calling it "not nothing, but a pittance for the QB position."

The Guardian didn't soften it either, writing flatly that "McCarthy's career in Minnesota will go down as a failure," citing poor accuracy, injuries and what the paper described as perceived immaturity.

The Michigan connection, and why it matters

McCarthy's one real selling point is history, not stats. He won a national championship at Michigan under Jim Harbaugh, going 27-1 as a starter in college, according to The Guardian. Fox Sports' Jay Glazer reported that Giants GM Joe Schoen made calls around the league to vet McCarthy before New York pulled the trigger, per Breitbart's account of Glazer's reporting.

Giants head coach Brian Daboll pointed to McCarthy's college pedigree and familiarity with his tape from Michigan as reasons for confidence in the move, according to The Guardian.

CBS Sports pointed out that the Giants now carry three former first-round quarterbacks on one roster: Dart, Winston and McCarthy. This puts them in the company of just a handful of other teams in the common draft era, including the 2018 Ravens (Lamar Jackson, Joe Flacco, RGIII) and the 1980 Raiders (Jim Plunkett, Dan Pastorini, Marc Wilson).

NFL.com's trade-grade coverage framed this as Minnesota potentially "capitalizing on Giants' desperation." That's a fair read of the leverage. New York needed bodies at the position immediately, and Minnesota had a former top-10 pick it no longer wanted, sitting on the inactive list for nothing.

None of this guarantees McCarthy ever sees the field in New York. Daboll said Monday he hasn't decided who the No. 2 quarterback behind Winston will be, McCarthy or Haener's now-vacant practice squad slot, telling reporters, "We're going to have to see how it plays out during the week." The Giants host Arizona on Sunday with Winston still under center. Whether McCarthy ever takes a regular-season snap for New York remains to be seen.