The NYG QB1 Conundrum

The New York Giants are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

On Wednesday, the team announced that quarterback Jaxson Dart will undergo season-ending surgery to repair ligament damage to the meniscus, MCL and PCL in his left knee. While head coach John Harbaugh was quick to clarify that Dart is only officially ruled out for the rest of the regular season and could conceivably return to action if Big Blue reaches the playoffs, the expectation is that we won’t see the Giants’ QB1 under center again until 2027.

So where do they go from here?

Make no mistake about it, when Harbaugh agreed to become the head coach, he did so expecting to win. NFL head coaches with Super Bowl rings on their resumés aren’t in the business of being also-rans. Harbaugh wants to compete for a playoff spot this season, not next season.

So naturally, one can reasonably expect that the Giants will be in the market for another quarterback to back up – or even replace – new QB1 Jameis Winston.

With that in mind, let’s go down the list of the Giants’ most realistic options:

Colin Kaepernick

Ha! Just kidding.

Derek Carr

Back in March, NBC Sports reported that the New York Giants were hoping to sign retired signal-caller Derek Carr as their bridge quarterback for 2026. Carr last played in

2024 where he threw for 2,145 yards with 15 touchdowns and five interceptions in 10 games before a shoulder injury prematurely ended his season. The Jets eventually

pivoted to Geno Smith, but the smoke around Carr was very real. Unfortunately for Giants fans, Carr let it be known on social media on Wednesday that he’s happily retired and has no intention of moving to the Big Apple.

Jimmy Garoppolo

On one hand, Jimmy G is the definition of a ‘winner’. He has a robust 43-21 record as a starter in the regular season and a 4-2 record as a starter in the playoffs. He’s played in the NFC Championship Game twice and the Super Bowl once. On the other, a case can be made that his teams have never won because of him and always won in spite of him. Jimmy G has never had a postseason run where he’s thrown more touchdowns than interceptions. Moreover, when the San Francisco 49ers beat the Green Bay Packers in the 2020 NFCCG, Garoppolo only attempted eight passes total. But here’s the biggest problem: Jimmy G is a free agent for a reason. The Los Angeles Rams, Garoppolo’s previous team, have legitimate Super Bowl aspirations and they still decided they’d rather go with the unproven Stetson Bennett over Jimmy G as their backup to Matthew Stafford. That alone should speak volumes.

Mitchell Trubisky

Trubisky hasn’t taken a single NFL snap since 2023, and he’s only started seven games total since 2021. But the current Tennessee Titans QB2 has one thing going for him that nobody else on this list does: He has experience playing under current Giants offensive coordinator Matt Nagy. In fact, Trubisky had a 29-21 record as a starter under Nagy when the two were together in Chicago, made the playoffs twice and even earned a Pro Bowl nod in 2018. Given the fact that the Titans are committed to Cam Ward as their QB1, if the Giants wanted to get Trubisky out of there, it shouldn’t cost more than a late-round pick to get the deal done.

Anthony Richardson

Richardson would be a pure upside play for Big Blue. Don’t let the 8-7 record as a starter fool you, despite his physical gifts, Richardson is not a good NFL quarterback. Not even close. He is injury-prone, has a career 50.6% completion percentage, and was actually benched in favor of journeyman Daniel Jones less than two seasons after getting selected with the fourth overall pick in 2023. But, just for funsies, let’s say the Giants did trade for Richardson, and by some miracle he winds up fulfilling his immense potential to become a legitimate starting NFL quarterback and lead the Giants to the playoffs, are we sure that would even be a good thing? History says that when a team starts winning with a new, young quarterback, they have a really hard time pivoting back to the incumbent. Is it really in the best interest of the Giants moving forward to bring in a guy that could even potentially start a quarterback controversy with Dart? The juice doesn’t seem worth the squeeze with this one.