Tiki Barber wants no part of J.J. McCarthy with the No. 6 pick belonging to the Giants.
“Not happening. I’m just saying. Not happening,” Barber said Thursday. “I don’t want him. Not happening.”
The Giants are one of the intriguing teams in the 2024 NFL Draft since they could go in a variety of ways, including drafting Daniel Jones’ successor at quarterback.
There seems to be a consensus that the Giants will miss out on the first three quarterbacks, with it looking like the Bears will draft Caleb Williams first and the Commanders and Patriots, picking second and third, respectively, possibly selecting Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels, in no particular order.
It’s possible fellow quarterback-needy teams like the Vikings (No. 11) or Broncos (No. 12) could move ahead of the Giants — or into the Giants’ slot — to draft McCarthy.
That could leave the Giants to potentially pick a receiver like Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr., LSU’s Malik Nabers or Washington’s Rome Odunze, one of the standout offensive tackles in the draft like Notre Dame’s Joe Alt if they don’t get a shot at taking the fourth QB of the draft.
McCarthy could be that fourth quarterback — should he not go higher — and there seems to be some debate about his ceiling.
He did not post gaudy numbers while playing for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, but some scouting reports indicate they expect he will be better at the pro level.
McCarthy threw for 2,291 yards and 22 touchdowns last year, although he failed to top 225 passing yards in any of his final six games.
While Harbaugh has vouched for McCarthy, Barber isn’t buying it.
“J.J. McCarthy thing, I’m tired of hearing it. 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 go draft this guy,’ because a lot of what he does doesn’t translate. The scheme that he ran at Michigan — and maybe this is an indictment on the scheme and not necessarily on him — but it didn’t highlight the things that you need to do, second-, third-level reads, multiple combo routes that you have to get correct. He didn’t do any of that stuff. They were run-based and he thrived in it because he was good at — that’s what Jim Harbaugh wanted him to do.
“The J.J. McCarthy thing, to me, is a smokescreen. He’s getting inflated because Jim Harbaugh won’t stop talking about him. Now all of a sudden, he’s a top-four quarterback? I don’t buy it.”
In an interesting wrinkle, McCarthy’s over/under for his draft slot is 5.5 at DraftKings, which is right where the Giants are slotted to pick.
