{"id":1015265,"date":"2026-10-01T00:57:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T00:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1015265\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T00:57:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T00:57:16","slug":"what-jim-harbaugh-told-brother-john-about-j-j-mccarthy-before-giants-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1015265\/","title":{"rendered":"What Jim Harbaugh told brother John about J.J. McCarthy before Giants trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Harbaugh confirmed he spoke with his Giants head coaching brother before Big Blue made a swing for quarterback J.J. McCarthy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And the Chargers bench boss believes the new pair could be a perfect match. <\/p>\n

Jim Harbaugh spoke with reporters in Los Angeles on Wednesday and said he chatted with John Harbaugh before the Giants traded a fifth-round pick to the Vikings<\/a> for McCarthy on Monday. <\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, John called me and asked me,\u201d Harbaugh told reporters on Wednesday. \u201cI said, \u2018You know, John, I love you. I love J.J. I think you guys would be \u2014 \u2019 so, really, I\u2019m telling you the same thing that I told my brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh during the second half of a game against the Buffalo Bills at New Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, Sunday, September 27, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no surprise the Jim Harbaugh would have positive feelings about the third-year quarterback. <\/p>\n

McCarthy was under center for Michigan when the program won the College Football Playoff national championship during the 2023-24 season. McCarthy threw for 2,991 yards with 22 touchdowns and just four interceptions while leading the Big Ten in completion percentage (72.3 percent).<\/p>\n

But things in the NFL haven\u2019t gone as smoothly for McCarthy after he was selected 10th overall by the Vikings in 2024. He missed his entire rookie season after needing knee surgery for a torn meniscus. In games he started in 2025, the Vikings had a winning record of 6-4, but he threw 12 interceptions with 11 touchdowns and completed 57.6 percent of his pass attempts. His 72.6 passer rating was the worst among 33 qualified QBs in the NFL.<\/p>\n

He hasn\u2019t has taken a snap this season after being named the third quarterback in Minnesota behind Kyler Murray and Carson Wentz.<\/p>\n

New York Giants quarterback J.J. McCarthy participates in football practice, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in East Rutherford, N.J. Noah K. Murray for NY Post<\/p>\n

New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh answers questions from reporters during football practice, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in East Rutherford, N.J. Noah K. Murray for NY Post<\/p>\n

McCarthy, in his first practice with the Giants on Wednesday, was third in reps<\/a> behind starter Jameis Winston and practice-squad quarterback Jake Haener. <\/p>\n

John Harbaugh said earlier in the week<\/a> that he was happy with the infusion of McCarthy, who received a seal of approval from general manager Joe Schoen and \u201chigh-level scouts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey felt very strongly he was going to be a good option,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cThat was interesting to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can throw it, he can run it, he makes plays. There\u2019s a lot of things he can do better from what he did, obviously and we\u2019re going to see where it goes from here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Harbaugh confirmed he spoke with his Giants head coaching brother before Big Blue made a swing for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1015266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2067],"tags":[7,519,1519,1012,2909,262,71,259,1917,56,2321,2469,6,9],"class_list":["post-1015265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-giants","tag-football","tag-giants","tag-j-j-mccarthy","tag-jim-harbaugh","tag-john-harbaugh","tag-los-angeles-chargers","tag-michigan-wolverines","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-giants","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkgiants","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117362939840851501","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1015265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1015266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1015265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1015265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1015265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}