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It is way too early to worry about any kind of quarterback controversy with the Giants. Unless JJ McCarthy rides the momentum from his first five quarters in blue and red into a Jeff Hostetler-esque Super Bowl dream season, Jaxson Dart is the Giants’ future. The Ole Miss product will be under center to start the 2027 season, his third, once his knee recovers. But even at this early stage, it’s worth wondering where McCarthy fits in that scenario, should he keep playing well.
The typical solution to having two viable young quarterbacks is to divide those chips and conquer. The Giants invested a fifth-round pick to roll the dice on McCarthy, rescuing him from career quicksand with the Vikings. What can they get in the offseason if he’s truly transformed into the latest first-round quarterback to go from busted to trusted?
In that scenario, McCarthy might earn the Giants a third-round pick. Maybe even a second if he somehow plays the Giants into a division title in the weak NFC East and makes some noise in the playoffs. Quite the flip, but maybe not the Giants’ best move.
Sturdy backup quarterbacks exist; that’s what Jameis Winston is, and the Giants swapped him out for McCarthy as the printer ink on the quarterback’s new playbook was still drying. Clearly, John Harbaugh and the Giants recognized the difference between a good backup who can cover for a game or two and someone who can provide more.
The 49ers are the example the Giants should follow if they have both a franchise quarterback and a second capable starter heading into the offseason. There’s no question the Niners are burning a prime year of Mac Jones’ career by keeping him as the backup to MVP candidate Brock Purdy. But that’s not GM John Lynch or head coach Kyle Shanahan’s problem. They could have gotten a nice return for Jones after he kept San Francisco afloat following the nightmarish start of his career in New England. But the 49ers valued peace of mind more, knowing if Purdy went down again, they wouldn’t suffer from an epic falloff.
Granted, Purdy is the unquestioned leader in San Francisco, squashing any prospect of a quarterback controversy. Dart is still being sold to fans on the promise of his brief NFL tenure, and any perceived fight for roster supremacy at quarterback in the New York market hits different. But protecting the team from another QB blowout should be more of a priority than protecting Dart from media scrutiny.
McCarthy has one more guaranteed year and a team option on his contract. This doesn’t have to be a short-term transaction where he launders his reputation and then lengthens the Giants’ draft board. McCarthy can be a longer-term asset for the Giants as a backstop against the consequences of Dart’s all-out style, questionable durability, and the twists and turns of young quarterbacks.
The desire to sell high on McCarthy will be powerful, but keeping a player whose value can be measured in wins and saved seasons is on another level.
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