New Giants QB J.J. McCarthy Had the Highest Interception Rate of Any Qualifying NFL Passer in 2025
He ranked last of 33 qualifiers in completion rate and passer rating over 10 starts for Minnesota, then posted a 100.4 rating in his final four. Jameis Winston, the Giants' starter, has a 55.6 passer rating this season.
J.J. McCarthy threw an interception on 4.9% of his passes in 2025, the highest rate among the 33 quarterbacks who met Pro Football Reference's qualifying minimum. The Giants acquired him from Minnesota on Sept. 28 for a 2027 fifth-round pick.
McCarthy ranked last among those 33 passers in completion percentage (57.6%), passer rating (72.6) and adjusted net yards per attempt (4.3). He went 6-4 as a starter with 11 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions.
Pro Football Reference's rate-stat qualifier is 14 attempts per scheduled game, or 238 over a 17-game season. McCarthy threw 243 passes in 10 starts, clearing the minimum by five. The rankings below use every passer with at least 238 attempts, with a player who changed teams counted once.
Table 1: McCarthy vs. the 33 qualifying passers, 2025
| Stat | McCarthy | Rank of 33 | Median qualifier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Completion % | 57.6 | 33rd | 65.0 |
| Yards per attempt | 6.7 | T-25th | 7.1 |
| Touchdown % | 4.5 | T-21st | 4.8 |
| Interception % | 4.9 | 33rd | 1.9 |
| Sack % | 10.0 | 31st | 6.2 |
| Passer rating | 72.6 | 33rd | 92.9 |
| Adj. net yards per attempt | 4.3 | 33rd | 6.3 |
Where the misses came from
Pro Football Reference's charting shows McCarthy threw downfield and missed often. His passes traveled 8.9 air yards per attempt, fourth-most among the 33 qualifiers; the median was 7.9. The site charted 21.3% of his throws as bad throws, second only to Atlanta's Michael Penix Jr. at 24.0%. His on-target rate, 66.5%, was the lowest in the group. The median was 74.7%.
Jaxson Dart, the Giants' Week 1 starter, qualified in 2025 with 339 attempts. On the same charting, his bad-throw rate was 15.5% and his on-target rate 72.9%, on passes that traveled 8.1 air yards per attempt.
McCarthy was pressured on 26.5% of his dropbacks, fourth-highest among qualifiers. The median was 21.6%. His receivers dropped 12 passes, a 5.0% drop rate by Pro Football Reference's measure and the sixth-highest in the group. The median was 4.1%.
Minnesota's sack rate was high no matter who played quarterback. Carson Wentz, who started five games for the Vikings in 2025, was sacked on 10.1% of his pass plays, compared with McCarthy's 10.0%. The team as a whole was sacked on 11.0%.
Wentz threw interceptions on 3.0% of his attempts in the same offense. McCarthy's rate was 4.9%. McCarthy fumbled six times and lost two, giving him 14 turnovers in 10 starts.
McCarthy ran 37 times for 181 yards and four touchdowns. Pro Football Reference charted 17 of those runs as scrambles, averaging 9.2 yards each.
First six starts and last four
Minnesota went 2-4 in McCarthy's first six starts, spread across Weeks 1, 2 and 9 through 12. He completed 54.1% of his passes for 5.8 yards per attempt with six touchdowns and 10 interceptions, a 57.9 passer rating.
The Vikings went 4-0 in his last four starts, in Weeks 14, 15, 16 and 18. He completed 64.3% for 8.4 yards per attempt with five touchdowns and two interceptions, a 100.4 rating. That stretch is 84 attempts, and he played 52.5% and 64.2% of the offensive snaps in two of those games.
One of the four came against the Giants. McCarthy went 9 of 14 for 108 yards with an interception in Minnesota's 16-13 win at the Giants on Dec. 21, 2025.
Table 2: McCarthy's 2025 starts
| Week | Opp. | Result | Cmp-Att | Yds | TD | INT | Sacks | Rate | Off. snap % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | at CHI | W 27-24 | 13-20 | 143 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 98.5 | 100 |
| 2 | ATL | L 22-6 | 11-21 | 158 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 37.5 | 100 |
| 9 | at DET | W 27-24 | 14-25 | 143 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 82.6 | 100 |
| 10 | BAL | L 27-19 | 20-42 | 248 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 54.5 | 100 |
| 11 | CHI | L 19-17 | 16-32 | 150 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 47.7 | 100 |
| 12 | at GB | L 23-6 | 12-19 | 87 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 34.2 | 100 |
| 14 | WAS | W 31-0 | 16-23 | 163 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 129.2 | 100 |
| 15 | at DAL | W 34-26 | 15-24 | 250 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 108.0 | 100 |
| 16 | at NYG | W 16-13 | 9-14 | 108 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 58.0 | 52.5 |
| 18 | GB | W 16-3 | 14-23 | 182 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 85.8 | 64.2 |
| Total | 6-4 | 140-243 | 1,632 | 11 | 12 | 27 | 72.6 |
McCarthy, the No. 10 overall pick in 2024 out of Michigan, spent his rookie season on injured reserve. He was inactive for seven of Minnesota's 17 games in 2025. The NFL posted a highlight package of his 2025 season on YouTube.
Against Winston
Jameis Winston did not take a snap in Week 1; Dart played all 69. Winston took 51 of the Giants' 58 offensive snaps in the Week 2 loss to the Rams after Dart left the game, then started the Week 3 win over Tennessee. Those two games add up to 49 attempts, a sample small enough that one game can swing every rate below. Dart is on injured reserve and will miss the rest of the regular season with the knee injury he suffered on the opening drive in Los Angeles.
Table 3: McCarthy's 2025 vs. Winston's 2026
| McCarthy, 2025 (10 starts) | McCarthy, last 4 starts | Winston, 2026 Weeks 2-3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attempts | 243 | 84 | 49 |
| Completion % | 57.6 | 64.3 | 51.0 |
| Yards per attempt | 6.7 | 8.4 | 4.7 |
| TD-INT | 11-12 | 5-2 | 0-1 |
| Interception % | 4.9 | 2.4 | 2.0 |
| Sack % | 10.0 | 7.7 | 9.3 |
| Passer rating | 72.6 | 100.4 | 55.6 |
Winston's line trails McCarthy's full 2025 season in completion rate, yards per attempt and passer rating. The Giants have not scored a touchdown in either game Winston has played, including the 12-7 win over Tennessee, which came on four Dominic Zvada field goals.
Winston has fewer turnovers. He has one interception and no lost fumbles in 49 attempts. At his 2025 rate, McCarthy would have thrown about 2.4 interceptions on the same number of passes. Sack rate does not separate them: 10.0% for McCarthy last season, 9.3% for Winston this season.
By the 2025 numbers, McCarthy's gaps are interceptions and accuracy, and his interception rate came down only in his final 84 attempts.
Coach John Harbaugh said at his Sept. 28 news conference that Winston is the starter: "Jameis will be the starter for as long as I can see into the future. But I don't know. Nobody knows."
Over the Cap lists McCarthy's 2026 cap charge at $895,833 and his 2027 charge at $3,775,200.
The Giants (2-1) host Arizona on Sunday, Oct. 4, with Winston starting.