Giants' John Harbaugh gets candid on 'shock sandwich' in first season | Exclusive - USA Today

John Harbaugh did not hesitate when asked a point-blank question about the quarterback cloud hanging over his New York Giants.

Will J.J. McCarthy get a chance to start?

That may seem a bit disrespectful to Jameis Winston, who came off the bench when Jaxson Dart went down in Week 2 with a season-ending knee injury and is poised to start his second game for the Giants (2-1) on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.

McCarthy, the former first-round pick obtained from the Minnesota Vikings on Monday, Sept. 28, just finished his second practice with his new team on Thursday.

And no doubt, the buzz has come with him to the Big Apple.

“I’d say all things are possible,” Harbaugh told USA TODAY Sports in an exclusive conversation Thursday evening. “Nothing is not. Jameis is our quarterback and we’re trying to win this game.”

Then the first-year Giants coach continued to answer the question with some questions.

“The main thing now is can J.J. and (fellow backup Jake) Haener, can those two guys help us?” Harbaugh added. “What are their roles, exactly? That’s kind of being developed as the week goes on. Haener’s been with us for three or four weeks. J.J.’s only been with us for two days. But you do that at every position. Obviously, it’s way bigger now because of what we’re trying to do with those guys. Does J.J. have a role? Is Jake Haener more the backup? But Jameis is the established starter for us. We’ll roll with him and try to win the game.”

Then again, you don’t have to remind Harbaugh that the NFL tends to be a week-to-week business with win-now implications. Just consider the drama that has unfolded since the Giants began Harbaugh’s era with a massive statement victory against the Cowboys.

Dart, the second-year pro, suffered a torn meniscus and MCL in his left knee on the first series against the Rams. Then last Sunday, linebacker Brian Burns suffered a season-ending torn ACL.

“It was like a shock sandwich, those things in back-to-back games,” Harbaugh said.

While he contends his team won’t blink and is bigger than two players, he can’t deny the impact.

“Not everybody loses probably their best defensive player and quarterback,” he said. “That’s unique. I get that. But we still have guys that can get the job done if we do what we’re supposed to do. That’s the point. We’ve got 14 games left. We’d better be locked in.”

A day after obtaining McCarthy and confirming the severity of Burns’ injury, veteran receiver Odell Beckham, Jr. – a fan favorite trying to revive his career in the place where he started as a first-round pick in 2014 – was released. Beckham, the fourth receiver, played just 19 snaps in three games and had zero catches.

“It just wasn’t working out,” said Harbaugh, who maintains he has grown close to the player he previously coached in Baltimore. “We weren’t able to put him in a position to help us. Put that on us.”

If Winston, 32, struggles again on Sunday – he’s completed just 51% of his passes and has yet to lead the Giants to a touchdown in seven-plus quarters of play – the noise surrounding McCarthy will grow louder.

Hey, there’s an enticing option suddenly in the mix. Stay tuned. Harbaugh seems careful not to dump fuel on that prospect, but in a results-oriented business, narratives can quickly evolve. Especially in the nation’s largest media market, where the back pages of the tabloids can carry pointed messaging.

“Jameis is concerned about doing the best he can to play his best football and help us win,” Harbaugh said. “To me, that’s it. I do think it’s interesting. Guys get judged in different ways. Everybody does, based on history and all that. He did what he needed to do to win the game (against Tennessee in Week 3). That’s what he’s focused on. We all know he’s going to play winning football.

“Looking past that, while it’s interesting and speculative, we really don’t have time to be engaging in that speculation. We’ve got our hands full with a game this week.”

In other words, this isn’t the week to legitimately project timing for a path to the starting lineup for McCarthy, whose initial days with the Giants are wrapped with the crash course of learning coordinator Matt Nagy’s offense. It could take weeks before he gets up to speed with the offense. And there was undoubtedly reason why the Vikings were moved to give up on a young prospect who started 10 games last season yet was buried on their depth chart as the No. 3 quarterback for the mere price of a 2027 fifth-round draft pick.

Then again, despite knocks on his mechanics, McCarthy was talented enough to get selected 10th overall in 2024, after leading the University of Michigan – coached by John’s brother, Jim – to a national championship.

And, of course, this is today’s NFL, where the immense pressure of instant impact coincides with next-man-up opportunities created by injuries. Things happen. Especially for quarterbacks.

Perhaps, too, McCarthy, 23, will emerge as another example of a quarterback who fizzled in one place and flourished in another. At least he has another shot, which will likely extend beyond this season with McCarthy under contract through the 2027 season.

Regardless of how this works out in the long term, it already seems like a win for the Giants to land a first-round talent – and potential fill-in option – for a mid-round price tag.

“To me, it’s kind of two-fold,” Harbaugh said. “I did kind of think about this. The present landscape is different, because there’s so much more attention to the game than there was 20, 30, 40 years ago, that probably the opportunity span is much shorter. So the chance to develop with that first team is kind of hit-miss. He’s part of that.

“But the other part of the coin, it’s not new. I mean, Johnny Unitas didn’t make it with his first team. He turned out pretty good. Everybody’s story is different. So, we feel like he has a chance. But the bottom line for us more than anything is about him helping us. That was our motivation.”

McCarthy was the top target for the Giants among several possibilities, Harbaugh said. While he was familiar with the quarterback who played for his brother, he didn’t engage in any type of deep dive in studying McCarthy before the 2024 draft because, as Ravens coach, the long-term quarterback answer was Lamar Jackson.

After Dart’s injury, however, Harbaugh took his own crash course in evaluating McCarthy.

“I started watching the tape from Minnesota really closely last week, and I also watched his college tape, and just got very excited about a possible fit for us,” Harbaugh said. “So that was really the bottom line of it.”

As you’d expect, John got a scouting report, too, from his younger brother.

“Jim likes his talent and everything, he feels like he is really athletic,” Harbaugh said. “But his biggest takeaway came every day, with who he is as a person, in the building as student of the game. He never changes. Always comes in ready to work, high energy. Jim kind of made a big point of that.”

The Vikings weren’t so sold on McCarthy. Yet Harbaugh is now positioned to make his own determination of the young quarterback – for better or worse.