Giants made the one QB trade that offered hope, even if it doesn't guarantee anything

When news broke that Jaxson Dart was done for the season and the New York Giants were shopping for quarterback help , it was hard not to think: Good luck .

Quarterbacks don't grow on trees. Smart teams don't let good ones out of the building often, at least not for cheap.

But there was one available option to the Giants , trading for J.J. McCarthy , that at least offered a glimmer of hope. Will it work? That remains a stretch, based on how McCarthy has played.

Yet it at least has a chance to work, which is likely better than you can say about the other options the Giants had. Most of them were short-term rentals. Most of them were older and more experienced, but there was a reason they were either unemployed or available by trade.

McCarthy's circumstances are unique. He's a recent high first-round draft pick who fell out of favor with the Minnesota Vikings , a club quite willing to move on from him. The cost (a 2027 fifth-rounder) was pretty indicative of that, selling for quarters on the dollar after a little more than two years of him being in the building.

Somehow, McCarthy fell from competing for the Vikings' starting job in mid-August to being their QB3 by early September. It was telling that Carson Wentz , not McCarthy, was Kyler Murray 's backup when he was knocked out of Minnesota's Week 1 game. McCarthy's problems weren't all football-related, either. He'd clearly lost the trust of the Vikings' coaching staff, one that has previously cobbled together functional offenses with less-credentialed QBs.

That's a reminder of where McCarthy was prior to the trade: the third QB option on a team that ranks last in the NFL in total yards, pass yards and first downs. It should also serve as a warning for any Giants fans counting on this saving their season.

Granted, the bar is low for the post-Dart Giants. Jameis Winston struggled badly against the Rams after Dart was injured and was passable at best Sunday in a close-shave win over the Titans at home . Four field goals and 238 yards of offense might work vs. Tennessee , but it's probably not going to cut it much going forward, with the toughest part of the Giants' schedule upcoming.

McCarthy was the one trade option that made sense

There were plenty of dots to connect between McCarthy and the Giants, so this is far from a shocking trade. He played for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan and now gets brother John; this is not the first time they've swapped players, and even coaches. The Giants also did ample background work on McCarthy prior to the 2024 NFL Draft and appeared to like him.

They clearly like something about McCarthy now, even if his situation has dramatically changed. One, he was cheap. Two, he's a young QB at age 23 — four months older than Dart — who's had only 10 starts to show himself. The Giants said they wanted to add an "experienced" quarterback, so it remains to be seen if this is the experience level they were actually seeking, but this trade also has some potential long-term benefits.

Yes, McCarthy is being brought in to help this season. There was a real question how long they could have stuck with Winston, and they were one hit away from playing Jake Haener . So you can bet the Giants will throw the kitchen sink at McCarthy and see how he responds. The Giants have games against the Cardinals, Commanders and Texans prior to the Week 8 bye. The next month will tell us a lot about how quickly the Giants plan to bring McCarthy into the fold.

But the trade also offers a bit of long-term insurance. Dart will have missed 17 of 34 games with injury by season's end. A concussion and evalutions over suspected head injuries were a major Year 1 storyline, and the knee has been the headline for Year 2. Even with aggressive rehab, he still could be limited early next offseason, and the Giants likely knew they need better contingency plans.

Can McCarthy provide that? Maybe. The results to this point are what they are. The Giants will take a little ugly if McCarthy can deliver some victories, even if they look as sluggish as the one Winston helped deliver Sunday. But they clearly want to see improvement on what he did with the Vikings, and that means getting better with Giants offensive personnel that is arguably no more or less impressive than what Minnesota has.

If McCarthy plays well enough, he could be in the Giants' 2027 mix. Dart remains the franchise QB until proven otherwise, and McCarthy's arrival could complicate matters down the road. Some trades have costs that go beyond draft-pick compensation and salary, and this is one of them. Will Dart feel threatened by McCarthy's arrival? It'll be interesting to hear what the Giants say about this and whether they consulted Dart before making the trade.

The Giants inherit a looming decision next summer on McCarthy's fifth-year option, which also would be tough to green light even if McCarthy plays well. For now, they can afford McCarthy's first-round salary this year and next, even if, interestingly enough, he'll make a shade more money than Dart will.

Those are more trivial details for now. The bottom line is that the Giants are gambling on McCarthy's talent and intangibles, even if there might be a lot to clean up — those late eyes and forced balls we've seen too much of speak for themselves. Coaching him up for starter-level duty will require some serious fast-tracking from this staff.

There were more immediately ready options available that didn't require picks to be traded — hired-gun free-agent quarterbacks who have previously joined other teams in a pinch and readied themselves for quick action. No one would have blamed the Giants if they went out and signed Jimmy Garoppolo or Brandon Allen or a similar-ilk QB.

Trading for McCarthy was a break from that strategy. It appears the Giants are as worried about tomorrow as they are about today. The problem? This trade doesn't guarantee that either concern will be fully addressed. That is the risk, even for such a relatively low-cost trade.