Giants' J.J. McCarthy Contract: $3.8 Million in 2027, Fifth-Year Option Due Before May 3
McCarthy's missed 2024 season and 52.2% snap share in 2025 rule out the option's playing-time tier, so a 2028 option would be priced at the lowest tier unless he makes this season's Pro Bowl on the original ballot.
The Giants' trade for quarterback J.J. McCarthy commits them to the rest of his 2026 base salary and $3.8 million in fully guaranteed pay for 2027. Minnesota keeps every dollar of his signing bonus on its own salary cap. Before May 3, 2027, the Giants must decide whether to exercise a fifth-year option that would guarantee him a 2028 salary that Over the Cap projects at $25.8 million at the basic tier, the lowest of four.
What "pending a physical" means
The Vikings and the Giants announced the trade Sept. 28, with the Giants sending a 2027 fifth-round pick to Minnesota. Both announcements said the deal was pending a physical. In practice, the acquiring team's medical exam is the last step, and a team can still back out at that point, as Baltimore did in March.
Baltimore had agreed to send two first-round picks to Las Vegas for pass rusher Maxx Crosby in a deal pending a physical. The Raiders then announced that the Ravens had "backed out of our trade agreement." NFL Network's Mike Garafolo reported that a medical concern drove the Ravens' decision. Crosby returned to the Raiders.
The NFL's trade wire and the Giants' transaction wire both list the McCarthy trade under Sept. 28, and the Giants' roster page listed McCarthy on the active roster Wednesday, wearing No. 18. The team's announcement still read "pending a physical" Wednesday, and neither team has announced the result.
Who pays what
McCarthy, the No. 10 overall pick in 2024, signed a four-year, $21,854,796 rookie contract with Minnesota. All of it is guaranteed. It included a $12,714,396 signing bonus, which counts against the cap in four equal parts of $3,178,599.
Under the collective bargaining agreement, those charges stay with the team that paid the bonus. A player's new team counts no portion of his signing bonus. Because the trade came after June 1, the one installment Minnesota had not yet counted, the $3,178,599 for 2027, moves onto the Vikings' cap at the start of the 2027 league year. The acquiring team counts only the salary still unpaid.
For 2026, that is what remains of a $1,075,000 base salary, paid in 18 weekly checks of about $59,722. Over the Cap charges the Giants for 15 of them, or $895,833. Spotrac charges 14, or $836,108.
McCarthy's 2026 pay also included a $1,706,800 roster bonus. Both databases now list it on Minnesota's side. Over the Cap's 2026 dead-money charge for the Vikings, $5,064,566, is the $3,178,599 bonus installment plus the $1,706,800 roster bonus plus three weekly checks. Neither team has said how the roster bonus was handled.
For 2027, the Giants owe a $1,190,000 base salary and a $2,585,200 roster bonus, $3,775,200 in all. His 2027 cap number was $6,953,799 before the trade. The difference is the bonus installment Minnesota keeps: $6,953,799 minus $3,178,599 is $3,775,200.
Through 2027, the Giants' total is $895,833 plus $3,775,200, or $4,671,033, on Over the Cap's count. On Spotrac's 2026 figure it is $4,611,308.
The fifth-year option
Every first-round pick's rookie deal includes a fifth-year option that only the team can exercise. For McCarthy, the option year is 2028, and the choice now belongs to the Giants. Under Article 7 of the CBA, the team must give written notice after the final regular-season game of the player's third season, which for McCarthy is this one, and before May 3 of the next year. The league's deadline this year for 2023 first-round picks was May 1, ProFootballRumors reported. Once exercised, the option salary is fully guaranteed.
For players drafted since 2018, the option salary depends on playing time and Pro Bowls in the first three seasons. Over the Cap's projected 2028 quarterback option salaries:
- Two or more Pro Bowls on the original ballot: the franchise tender, projected at $50,308,000.
- One Pro Bowl: the transition tender, projected at $43,763,000.
- Playing time: based on the third- through 20th-highest salaries at the position, projected at $29,970,000.
- Basic: based on the third- through 25th-highest salaries, projected at $25,836,000.
The playing-time tier requires one of three marks: 75% of the team's offensive plays in two of the first three seasons, a cumulative 75% over all three, or 50% in each of the three.
McCarthy spent 2024 on injured reserve and did not take a snap. He played 52.2% of Minnesota's offensive snaps in 2025, according to Over the Cap. The empty 2024 season rules out the 50%-in-each test, and with 52.2% in 2025 he cannot reach 75% in two of the three seasons. The cumulative test is out of reach as well. If he played every offensive snap for the rest of this season, his three-year share would be about half by our math: 0% plus 52.2% plus 100%, divided by three, is 50.7%, treating the seasons as equal length.
That puts a McCarthy option at the basic tier, projected at $25,836,000, unless he is named to this season's Pro Bowl on the original ballot. If the Giants do not exercise it, 2027 is the last year of his contract.
The Giants face the same deadline on wide receiver Malik Nabers, the No. 6 pick in 2024.
The Giants' 2027 draft picks
The fifth-round pick is the third 2027 selection the Giants have traded. Their fourth-rounder went to Cleveland in April as part of the trade up for wide receiver Malachi Fields. A conditional seventh went to Miami with tight end Darren Waller in July 2025. The Giants added Jacksonville's sixth-round pick when they traded offensive lineman Daniel Faalele on Aug. 19.
With the trade on the wire, the Giants hold five 2027 picks: a first, a second, a third and two sixths. They would have six if the condition on the seventh-rounder sent to Miami was not met; the condition has not been made public. Compensatory picks, which are awarded in the spring, are not included.