When the New York Giants traded for J.J. McCarthy as their presumed replacement for the injured Jaxson Dart, the move was met with mixed reactions. Was the former first-round flameout really going to resurrect the playoff hopes of a team that wasn't expected to do much before the season?
Yes. The answer is yes.
It's only been five quarters, but McCarthy has looked fantastic for the Giants so far. The fifth-round pick that the G-Men sent to the Minnesota Vikings to get him may as well have been a can of baked beans.
The optics are only getting better for Big Blue. After seeing what the Baltimore Ravens gave up to get Jacoby Brissett, Joe Schoen should be feeling like a negotiating wizard.
Ravens' Jacoby Brissett trade price makes Giants' J.J. McCarthy deal look like a bargain
While the Ravens' trade for Jacoby Brissett was announced earlier in the week, it wasn't made official until Friday. Baltimore sent a 2027 fourth-round pick and a 2028 seventh-round pick to the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for Brissett and a 2027 fifth-round pick.
To be clear, the Giants gave up more value for McCarthy than the Ravens did for Brissett. That doesn't mean that they made the better deal, though.
Brissett isn't suddenly going to become an above-average quarterback. He's 33 years old, and he was just benched for Gardner Minshew. Realistically, he'll be a bottom-five quarterback for the rest of the year and serve as a decent backup in 2027. Baltimore is just hoping that he can keep its season from becoming a complete disaster.
McCarthy, on the other hand, could easily exceed his trade cost. He may already have done so. If he can keep playing like he did against the Texans, other teams could be willing to give up a second-round pick in an offseason trade for him. He'd even raise questions about whether he should replace Dart, though we're nowhere near ready to take that topic seriously.
J.J. McCarthy has already delivered on Giants' risky trade
A fifth-round pick, especially one made by Joe Schoen, is nothing more than a dart throw. Most of them never end up becoming significant contributors in the NFL. Even if they do bring some value, almost none of them are ever as impactful as a startable quarterback.
The Giants may have been questioned when they traded a fifth-round pick away to get McCarthy, but they would do it again in a heartbeat.
In his first start of the season, McCarthy completed over 70% of his passes and totaled 253 yards. He made multiple throws that reminded the rest of the NFL why he was a top-ten draft pick in 2024. He may not have scored a touchdown, but he didn't need to for the G-Men to pull off the win.
It seems to have gone unnoticed that he did all of this just a couple of weeks after being traded. This is a young quarterback in a new system working with new pass-catchers, so you'd expect him to continue to improve as the season goes on.
McCarthy has already made the Giants the clear winners of the trade, and it might only get better from here.
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