26. JJ McCarthy, New York Giants
JJ McCarthy is somehow quarterbacking a 5-2-1 football team. The New York Giants won in Week 9 and are still in first place in the NFC East. McCarthy now has one passing touchdown and one interception on the year. He did get banged up in this one and is turning into a QB that simply cannot stay consistently healthy, as he missed all of his rookie season.
It does seem like McCarthy is playing with a gunslinger-ish mindset, and it’s definitely not been the worst idea, but I’m not sure this is a QB the Giants are going to continue winning with. Jaxson Dart has been out for weeks now, and unless they can somehow get him back near the end of the regular season, the Giants aren’t really going to be a team to pay too much attention to.
There are valid, perhaps major flaws in McCarthy’s game, but, if nothing else, he is still a young player. We’re bumping McCarthy down a bit in our QB power rankings. There’s just nothing special with him.
25. Gardner Minshew, Arizona Cardinals
Gardner Minshew is a slick QB. He’s a backup, for the most part, but the Arizona Cardinals recently traded Brissett to the Ravens and elevated Minshew into the starting QB role. At some point, we should end up seeing Carson Beck, as Minshew is who he is.
The Cardinals did lose in Week 9, but in the previous week, Minshew helped rally a comeback against Dallas, which eventually led to an overtime win.
On the season, Minshew has three passing touchdowns and a 71.7 percent completion percentage. While the Cardinals only scored 3 points in Week 9 against Seattle, I am not sure you could expect much from him in that type of environment to begin with.
The Cardinals are in a lost season overall and have totally mishandled things in the Monti Ossenfort era. It’s been a ton of ugly football, and a hard reset is needed, and I am not sure he envisioned needing to start guys like Brissett and Minshew this far into his tenure.
Minshew is a very low-end starter at best, but is a high-end backup, so he does have a place in this league.
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