Giants Country

Tiki Barber Explains Why He Doesn't Want Giants to Select JJ McCarthy at No. 6

Barber implored his old team to think long and hard about selecting Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy if he falls to them in the draft order.

Ezekiel Trezevant

Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy
Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy / Melanie Maxwell / USA TODAY NETWORK
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Former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber, now a sports talk radio show host for WFAN, didn't mince words when discussing the possibility of the Giants selecting Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy in the first round of next week's draft.

“It’s not happening,” Barber said. “I don't want him.” 

It's nothing personal, mind you, on Barber's behalf, but the Giants' rushing yards record holder has some concerns about McCarthy's film, which he believes doesn't support all the first-round buzz he's been receiving.

"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," Barber implored.

“This scheme that he ran at Michigan–and maybe this is just an indictment on the system and not necessarily on him—didn't highlight the things you need to do: second and third-level reads, multiple combo routes that you must get correct. He didn’t do any of that stuff. 

“They were run-based, and he thrived in it because that's what (former Wolverines head coach) Jim Harbaugh wanted him to do. So, the J.J. McCarthy thing, to me, is a smokescreen. He’s getting inflated because Jim Harbaugh won’t stop talking about him, and now, all of a sudden, he’s a top-four quarterback? I’m not buying it."

Giants general manager Joe Schoen has played his cards close to the vest regarding his plans to draft a quarterback. He reiterated that the expectation is for incumbent Daniel Jones to start once cleared to return from a torn ACL and even went so far as to suggest that he'd be comfortable going into 2024 with the three quarterbacks—Jones, Drew Lock, and Tommy DeVito—already on the roster.

“I think with Drew’s experience, he has started games and played, and Daniel’s experience,” Schoen said. “And what Tommy did last year, another year in the system, Tommy’s come a long way. I think we could go into the season with the three that we have and be comfortable with that.”

Schoen insists he's still confident in Jones's ability to win games.

 “When you go back and watch the 2022 season or all of his throws in 2022, he was a 25-year-old player who played at a high level and won 10 games and a playoff game,” Schoen said. I’m still confident in Daniel, the way he’s wired, and what he showed us in 2022.

“Again, did we have the best start to the season last year? Absolutely not. Anything that could have gone wrong, it seems like it did early on between injuries and some other things. I’ve still got a lot of confidence in Daniel.”

But with a quarterbacks class so deep in talent, it would be a major upset if the Giants don't tap into it, especially given Jones's injury history. 

And as long as it's not McCarthy, it's probably safe to assume Barber will support the selection.  

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Ezekiel Trezevant
EZEKIEL TREZEVANT

Ezekiel is a former Sports Editor from the Western Herald and former Atlanta Falcons beat writer.