Now that Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll are officially back, the New York Giants have one all-important question to answer: Who will be playing quarterback when the season begins in September of 2025.
ESPN began their offseason breakdown on January 6, and analyst Ben Solak revealed his “big prediction” for the Giants at QB.
“The Giants aren’t just desperate for a new quarterback — they’re also desperate for a big offseason win to wash the taste of the Saquon Barkley debacle out of their mouth,” Solak noted. Predicting: “Whichever quarterback the [Minnesota] Vikings don’t commit to — either free agent-to-be Sam Darnold or injured rookie J.J. McCarthy — will end up in New York and be the starting quarterback in 2025.”
Whether it’s Darnold or McCarthy, this would be a major splash move from Schoen.
In the case of the former, he’d likely have to dish out big money and financial guarantees in free agency. Assuming Minnesota doesn’t franchise tag him, USA Today Sports projected that Darnold would earn a three-year, $110 million contract in 2025, including $55 million in guarantees.
McCarthy would cost much less financially, but he’d require some sort of splash via trade. A NY insider floated trade scenarios for the 2024 first rounder just before Week 18.
Giants Paying Sam Darnold Gives Daniel Jones Vibes
As Solak reminded, the Giants are desperate to find a quarterback, and unfortunately, desperation sometimes leads to bad decisions — even if Schoen promised it won’t in 2025.
Paying Darnold off one career season might bring back bad memories from when Schoen and Daboll extended current Vikings teammate Daniel Jones. Darnold has yet to prove that he can elevate a franchise without the proper pieces around him, with failed stints in New York (with the Jets) and Carolina.
Who’s to say that he’d fare any better with the Giants?
Darnold’s additional cap hit would also hamstring Big Blue a bit financially as they attempt to fill the rest of their holes on both offense and defense. Sound familiar?
Think back a few years to just after Jones’ playoff run and most fans and analysts would tell you he was the better quarterback, in comparison to Darnold. That’s not to say Darnold has not surpassed him since then, but are the two really that far apart in their abilities?
It doesn’t help that Darnold already crashed and burned in New York City once, and there’s also a question of whether or not he would even want to return.
Giants Passed on J.J. McCarthy in 2024 NFL Draft
The McCarthy plan isn’t foolproof either, although one could argue that he has more upside than Darnold at age 22 in a couple of weeks.
The Giants’ current regime did plenty of scouting work on McCarthy last spring. In the end, they passed on him, drafting wide receiver Malik Nabers instead.
On HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” Schoen and Daboll also appeared to be very serious about trading up for either Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye, but not McCarthy. So, while it’s unclear exactly how NYG felt about the Michigan signal-caller at the time, we know that they valued him less than Daniels, Maye and Nabers.
If the Vikings’ ask for McCarthy is the Giants’ 2025 first-round selection at No. 3 overall, should they pull the trigger and commit to the prospect they passed on one year prior?
The youngster’s knee surgeries as a rookie only further muddy the situation, as it’s currently unknown if he’d even be ready for Week 1 — both mentally and physically.
With all that in mind, Darnold and McCarthy could potentially be the Giants’ best short- and long-term options at quarterback, despite all their question marks and flaws. That’s how bleak the current QB market is, and it’s up to Schoen and Daboll to figure out some sort of solution — and fast.
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Giants Predicted to Make a ‘Big’ Splash on 1 of 2 Non-Rookie QB Options