Why Giants should trade No. 3 pick for Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy: ESPN draft expert

Forget the draft.ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper believes the Giants should be willing to send the No.3 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft to the Vikings for injured rookie quarterback J.J.

McCarthy.Acquiring McCarthy, the No.10 pick in last year’s draft, would mean passing on this year’s top quarterback prospects in Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, Miami’s Cam Ward and possibly Penn State’s Drew Allar, who could change course and enter the draft after a strong College Football Playoff showing.“J.J.

McCarthy is a year younger than Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, he’s coming off the (knee) injury, but he’s a kid, if you look at his grade last year compared to the grades this year of the quarterbacks, he would be the No.1 guy, he would be ahead of Drew Allar, he would be ahead of certainly Cam and Shedeur,” Kiper said on ESPN’s “Unsportsmanlike” on Thursday.That the Giants could potentially seek a trade to find their franchise quarterback is a reflection of the lukewarm view of this year’s draft class.There are varying views on Sanders, Ward and even Allar, who previously said he’s returning to Happy Valley but has since seen his stock rise with two playoff wins.Just because Sanders and Ward are the best signal-callers in this year’s class doesn’t necessarily mean they are franchise quarterbacks and reaching for one of them — think Daniel Jones — could set a team back.It’s hard to say whether every team ranks McCarthy, 21, higher than any of this year’s quarterbacks, but Kiper is not the first pundit to say last year’s crop outranked this year’s crew.There’s also the reality that should Allar stay in school, the Giants may not have the option to draft both Ward and Sanders since the Titans (No.

1) and Browns (No.2) both need quarterbacks.There could be a third quarterback the Giants absolutely fall in love with but, as of early January, that player seemingly is not being discussed nationally as a top-five pick.Even if the Giants like McCar...