Brian Baldinger warns New York Giants against drafting J.J. McCarthy

If the New York Giants do not trade up into the top three picks of the 2024 NFL draft, they’ll likely miss out on Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, and Jayden Daniels.

In the minds of many, that’s perfectly fine because Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy will still be available for the taking at some point from No. 4 through No. 6.

However, former NFL offensive lineman and current analyst, Brian Baldinger, does not subscribe to that theory. In fact, he warns, the Giants should stay away from McCarthy entirely.

“I would not go after J.J. McCarthy. He might become a great pro. He’s just a very difficult guy to evaluate because of where he comes from,” Baldinger told the New York Post. “He’s the only quarterback I can remember in recent history where nobody says anything negative about him. They just say, ‘He’s 27-1, Jim Harbaugh says he’s the best quarterback in the draft.’

“Nobody says anything about the offense he played in, not throw the ball in the second half against Penn State, they don’t bring any of that up. They’re just like, ‘Yep, he was a five-star recruit in high school, he took Michigan to a national championship, back-to-back playoff seasons.’ Like he’s the Golden Child. Nobody ever says anything bad about him. And I can’t figure out what there is to evaluate with him. They asked very little of him to go win a national championship.”

If both McCarthy and wide receiver Rome Odunze are available at six, Baldinger believes the Giants should go with Odzune. They most certainly should not trade up for McCarthy, he adds.

“I like him, I don’t know that I love him. I can’t see how many off-platform throws he makes, or how creative he is when, I don’t know, Aidan Hutchinson’s ready to swallow him up,” Baldinger said. “You just don’t see that many situations that NFL quarterbacks have to react to in real time, whether to make the throw as you get blasted, or to get out of harm’s way like (Patrick) Mahomes does weekly a couple of times every game. Or Josh Allen just uncorks a bomb to go win a game.

“You just don’t see those type of throws from him. If I was Joe Schoen, I wouldn’t trade up, lose assets that they desperately need, that might become a franchise quarterback, but you’re very uncertain if he will.”

Baldinger isn’t alone in his skepticism of McCarthy. Former Giants great Tiki Barber expressed similar concerns this week.

Tiki doesn’t want the Giants to take J.J. McCarthy: pic.twitter.com/HYUGyxhdLd

— WFAN Sports Radio (@WFAN660) April 11, 2024

“Stop with the J.J. McCarthy thing,” Barber said. “His film doesn’t say he’s a first-round quarterback. His film doesn’t say ‘I need to get rid of all my assets and draft this guy’ because a lot of what he does doesn’t translate.”

We’ll soon find out if general manager Joe Schoen shares similar beliefs.