J.J. McCarthy got a feel for running the Giants’ offense at Combine

Despite New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen insisting that Daniel Jones is the team’s starting quarterback when healthy, it seems everyone expects the Giants to still draft a quarterback this year.

Granted, they need a backup given Jones’ injury history, but do they really need to target someone like Caleb Williams? Or is someone like J.J. McCarthy a potentially better option?

Williams and other top-tier quarterbacks are likely to be gone by the Giants’ first pick, so they could consider trading up. Or they could trade down and wait for McCarthy — assuming he doesn’t rocket up draft boards.

There could be other options, but it seems that Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll took an interest in McCarthy at the 2024 NFL Combine during their formal meeting.

“I drew up a play that I can run in every situation — third down, fourth down, first and second, all that good stuff,” McCarthy said, via the New York Post. “And then the coaches were kind of changing my verbiage and making it their own. It was really nice to kind of get a feel of what that offense would be like and it was actually a lot more simple.”

McCarthy says all of the right things and presents himself in a professional yet approachable manner. He remembered different details about each meeting he had rather than giving vague complimentary answers about coaches.

He built a solid foundation at Michigan under Jim Harbaugh, and if someone can develop him from here, he has the potential to be a great quarterback.

But should the Giants target him? If they are going to draft a quarterback as so many have predicted, then McCarthy is as good an option as they’re going to get without trading up.