J.J. McCarthy ready to help Giants, but they shouldn't rush him into being the starting QB

The Giants traded for J.J. McCarthy as insurance in two ways. They needed a third quarterback and also an experienced one behind Jameis Winston since Jake Haener has thrown only 39 passes in his career.

The question now is when does that insurance comes into play? The answer depends on McCarthy’s readiness and Winston’s performance. For now, Winston is the starter Sunday against the Cardinals and McCarthy is starting his lessons on the John Harbaugh Way.

That means getting familiar with his new surroundings, something he was eager to do after visiting the Giants’ facility two years ago as a draft prospect. He didn’t say much about why or how things ended with the Vikings. Instead, he chose to focus on the present.

“At the end of the day, it's about learning this playbook, learning my teammates' names, learning everyone's name in the building,” McCarthy said Friday in his first availability since being traded Monday. “Doing whatever I can to just be as prepared as possible, and help out Jameis, help out Jake this week to next week, whenever it comes, and just keep attacking every single day.”

He empathized with Jaxson Dart’s season-ending injury because McCarthy remembered how his own rookie season was delayed for a meniscus injury. As from going from Jim Harbaugh, his college coach at Michigan, to John Harbaugh? He loved staying with the family.

McCarthy won a national championship with Jim and now he’s glad to see up close why John has been successful.

“They’re made of the right stuff. Faith, family and football,” he said. “Everything he did in Baltimore was super-inspiring.”

Of course, what matters is how fast McCarthy gets up to speed. He’s been on scout team duty in practice and Harbaugh said Friday he’s still debating who his No. 2 quarterback will be.

There is precedent, though, for traded quarterbacks to play the weekend after their arrival. Last season, Joe Flacco was traded to the Bengals and started the team’s next game

Baker Mayfield did it in 2022 after being traded to the Rams. He didn’t start right away, but he entered on the team’s second offensive series and eventually led a fourth-quarter comeback.

The difference is Flacco and Mayfield were proven quarterbacks. McCarthy has just 10 starts and last played in a game on Jan. 4. It makes sense Harbaugh and quarterbacks coach Brian Callahan are preaching patience.

Callahan said McCarthy is basically speed-learning all of the different install packages while also learning this week’s game plan. There is no immediate need to play, but there’s still a sense in rushing to make sure McCarthy knows enough if the time comes to play.

“It's a race to see how much we can give to him and how much he's going to be able to remember and retain,” Callahan said Friday. “So it's a process. It takes time.”

The best and ideal plan is McCarthy sitting at least a week, two if better. The Giants owe it to him to best prepare him as a young quarterback on his second team and that means trusting Winston this week and have Haener as QB2.

The season’s still young to figure out a long-term answer. All McCarthy can do is prepare for when it becomes his time. He and the Giants would be served well if that day isn’t Sunday.

But McCarthy has the right attitude. He's not looking back at his Vikings time. It's all about now, and if that present leads to being the Giants' starting quarterback, so be it, even if they will not and should not rush him to that role just yet.

"At the end of the day, it's all in the past," McCarthy said. "All I care is about is what's important now. That next rep, that next meeting, that next game. That's really all I'm focused on."

By Evan Barnes

evan.barnes@newsday.comevan_b

Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.