Quarterback J.J. McCarthy said that it was a "shock" to be traded from the Minnesota Vikings to the New York Giants earlier this week but that he's looking at it as an opportunity to show what he can do in the NFL. McCarthy was traded to the Giants for a fifth-round pick after two-plus years in Minnesota. The Vikings drafted him in the top 10 of the 2024 NFL draft.
"When I got the call here, it was a shock. I didn't anticipate it, but at the end of the day, it's an opportunity," McCarthy said in his first comments since the trade. McCarthy spent this week working with the scout team for the Giants. Jameis Winston remains the team's starting quarterback after Jaxson Dart was recently lost for the rest of the season. New coach John Harbaugh wouldn't say whether McCarthy would be the second- or third-string quarterback this week when the Giants face the Arizona Cardinals.
McCarthy acknowledged that he was quite familiar with Harbaugh. He played for John's brother, Jim, at the University of Michigan, where they won the national championship. McCarthy said he hasn't heard from Jim Harbaugh since the trade. He also didn't want to get into what went wrong in Minnesota.
"There's a multitude of things you could think of [why it didn't work out], but at the end of the day, it's all in the past," he said. "And all I care about is what's important now -- that next rep, that next meeting, that next game."
Source: ESPN NFL · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing