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    "original_url": "https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7641151\/2026\/09\/29\/jj-mccarthy-trade-giants-harbaugh-gamble\/?emc=edit_na_20260930&nl=breaking-news&segment_id=227279",
    "parsed_content": "John Harbaugh just turned 64 last week, so he is not interested in giving away a season in a wide-open sport built on the notion of parity as a virtue.The New York Giants are 2-1 and in dire need of an actual winning year. Harbaugh wanted to start the second act of his NFL career with a surprise playoff run, and the painful losses of his most valuable offensive and defensive players, Jaxson Dart and Brian Burns, have not inspired him to abandon those plans.J.J. McCarthy makes sense in that context. Good coaches never stop looking to acquire talent, and the quarterback who went undefeated while winning a national title for Harbaugh\u2019s brother, Jim, at Michigan, has plenty of that.Even if he didn\u2019t show it while winning nothing of significance for Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O\u2019Connell, a former Tom Brady backup with vast institutional knowledge about the position.\u201cI don\u2019t think anybody would deny that J.J. McCarthy is a very talented young quarterback,\u201d John Harbaugh said Monday.McCarthy might never make it as an NFL starter; that much is true. But he is 23 years old and a top-10 draft pick at the most important position in football.If that isn\u2019t worth taking a chance on for a fifth-round pick while your best in-house option is Jameis Winston, well, what is?Top Plays from Titans @ GiantsAfter barely surviving the Tennessee Titans on Sunday afternoon, Harbaugh said Winston\u2019s (uninspiring) play would not impact his plans to upgrade his quarterback room.\u201cThe opportunities that you have are the opportunities you have,\u201d he said. \u201cNo matter what, we\u2019re going to do everything we can to make our team as strong as we can based on what options we have.\u201dHarbaugh had discussed other potential quarterback candidates, including free agent Jimmy Garoppolo and Kansas City Chiefs backup Justin Fields. But given that the New York football audience had already seen enough of Fields and that the less mobile Garoppolo is 11 years older than McCarthy, the Vikings\u2019 third-stringer ultimately looked about as attractive to John Harbaugh as the Michigan first-stringer once did to Jim Harbaugh.\u201cHe was a top-10 pick for a reason,\u201d the Giants coach said. \u201cThere\u2019s plenty of good tape even in the NFL out there. \u2026 I did spend some time looking at him last week along with a few other guys, and I came away impressed. Our scouts had already done the work, and I saw their reports, and I would have to concur with their reports based on what I saw. He could throw it, he could run it, he could make plays.\u201dSo no, this wasn\u2019t John merely listening to his younger brother\u2019s pitch and taking one for Team Harbaugh. He listened to his general manager, Joe Schoen, and to the Giants\u2019 high-end scouts who surveyed the available arms and, according to the head coach, put McCarthy \u201cright near or at the top of the list in their evaluations.\u201dAsked for specific reasons why McCarthy was so appealing to the Giants, one organizational source who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the quarterback replied, \u201cAthletic ability, arm strength, RPO skill set.\u201dBut wouldn\u2019t it be a bit of a problem if McCarthy ultimately supplants Winston and shows enough of those traits to challenge Dart entering 2027?\u201cHell no,\u201d the source said. \u201cThat would be a good challenge.\u201dAnd a good problem to have.Coaches with an established track record of success will always gamble on physical skill under the assumption that they can manage\/eliminate maturity concerns. If McCarthy requires an attitude adjustment, Harbaugh has proved he can handle that. As far as injuries go, McCarthy is, if nothing else, much like Dart \u2014 due for some good luck.\n \n \n \n \n What You Should Read Next\n \n \n \n \n J.J. McCarthy trade grades: Did Vikings capitalize on Giants\u2019 desperation?\n \n \n McCarthy never mastered Vikings coach Kevin O\u2019Connell\u2019s user-friendly offense, so it\u2019s fair to be skeptical he can find success in New York.\n \n \n \n \n \n Funny how life works out. Harbaugh made this dramatic move a day after the team he could have coached, the Titans, scared him straight. Though a number of people in Harbaugh\u2019s life told him in January he\u2019d be nuts to turn down the New York Giants in favor of Tennessee, that sentiment wasn\u2019t unanimous. Harbaugh has since made it clear he is thrilled with the choice he made.Of course, he picked Dart over Cam Ward. He did not pick Jameis Winston over Cam Ward, even though Winston was the very first player the new Giants coach fussed over at his introductory news conference, pointing to him in the back of the room and reminding him of the 334 passing yards and three touchdowns he dropped on Harbaugh\u2019s 2024 Baltimore Ravens team as a member of the Cleveland Browns.\u201cIt was a great game \u2026 for you,\u201d Harbaugh said in that presser. \u201cIt starts with the quarterback, for sure. You build your team around the quarterback.\u201dHe wanted to start building a championship team around Dart, and those designs went up in smoke during the Monday night loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Now the ball is in Winston\u2019s hands. The Giants did give him $13 million over two years for this moment.Why the Giants acquired J.J. McCarthy from the VikingsCharlotte CarrollMaybe the veteran will keep the job for a while. Maybe Winston will perform at a higher level against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday and hold off McCarthy for the rest of the year.Or maybe the new kid will learn the full playbook sooner rather than later and remember how to play the kind of winning football that compelled the Vikings to move up in the \u201924 draft to pick him in the first place.Either way, McCarthy is almost certainly a better player than Winston\u2019s most recent backup, Jake Haener. Harbaugh maintained that McCarthy is \u201cgoing to make us a stronger football team.\u201d He also said the Giants are \u201cgoing to keep growing.\u201dAnd why not? Take a quick look around the NFL.\n \n \n \n \n What You Should Read Next\n \n \n \n \n Giants\u2019 trade for J.J. McCarthy was aggressive, but was it also reckless?\n \n \n Giving up a mid-round draft pick for McCarthy, especially after now losing Brian Burns for the season, feels like a rash move. \n \n \n \n \n \n The Rams, betting favorites to win it all, are 1-2. The Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks just lost to the Washington Commanders\u2019 backup quarterback. The Super Bowl runner-up New England Patriots and their all-everything quarterback, Drake Maye, are a mess. The Las Vegas Raiders are 3-0. The Green Bay Packers are lucky they aren\u2019t 0-3. Jim Harbaugh\u2019s Los Angeles Chargers are 0-3.The NFL is a wild and unpredictable place, and that\u2019s the way league elders want it. Harbaugh has been around long enough to know you don\u2019t punt away seasons under those circumstances, especially when you work for a franchise that has been adrift for so, so long.Even without Dart and Burns, the Giants need to see where this season can go. Harbaugh did the right thing by adding a player who might give them a better chance of getting there.\nIan O'Connor Ian O\u2019Connor is a columnist for The Athletic. He is the author of six straight New York Times bestsellers. O\u2019Connor was a columnist at various major outlets who earned multiple first-place finishes in contests run by the Society of Professional Journalists, Associated Press Sports Editors, Pro Football Writers of America, and Golf Writers Association of America. He is a proud former copy boy at The New York Times.Follow Sep 29, 2026Connections: Sports EditionSpot the pattern. Connect the termsFind the hidden link between sports termsPlay today's puzzleWhat did you think of this story?MEHSOLIDAWESOME",
    "published_at": "2026-09-29T10:00:44+00:00",
    "author_name": "Ian O'Connor",
    "site_name": "The Athletic",
    "section": null,
    "publisher": "The New York Times Company",
    "ai_headline": "J.J. McCarthy trade to Giants: John Harbaugh\u2019s gamble on a young QB",
    "ai_simplified_title": "Giants John Harbaugh Gambles on JJ McCarthy Trade",
    "ai_excerpt": "John Harbaugh, coach of the New York Giants, has acquired quarterback J.J. McCarthy in a trade, despite having Jameis Winston. This move is seen as a gamble to upgrade the team's quarterback room and pursue a playoff run.",
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        "J.J. McCarthy",
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