NY Giants news: Beckham exit explained, Jameis Winston, JJ McCarthy, more

It depends on Winston if the Giants and their fans get to see the talented young quarterback this year. The two-year extension the Giants signed him to earlier this month showed their faith in him. But that faith is tested. While the Giants praised Winston for his leadership, they need to see better play from him. In his two appearances this season, Winston has failed to impress.

But Winston needs to impress this week against Arizona. It seems strange to think about it given all the chaos that McCarthy’s hiring caused, but Winston is still in control of his own destiny. He still has the power to make trade (mostly) irrelevant. All he has to do is play well, and the team has no reason to take him off the field. Is he up to the task? If the answer is no, Giants fans could be looking at a McCarthy-run offense very soon.

Which team injury issues are of most concern? Graziano: The easy answer is the 49ers, but they’re 3-0 and deal with it every year, so I don’t think it’s them. Maybe the Giants? They lost their starting quarterback and their top veteran rusher at the end of the season. It’s hard to get back there, especially when your roster isn’t completely filled to begin with.

22. New York Giants (down 1). With the exception of starting center John Michael Schmitz Jr., who earned a PFF pass-blocking grade of just 19.0 this week, the Giants had a good day in pass protection against the Tennessee Titans. Both starting tackles have compiled PFF pass-blocking grades above 80.0, with Andrew Thomas allowing one pressure from 27 pass-blocking snaps and Jermaine Eluemunor zero. Rookie right guard Francis Mauigoa earned the highest grade of his three-week career, yielding just one pressure in the game.

McCarthy started 10 games for the Vikings (all last year). That puts him in some lackluster company, along with Paxton Lynch, Trey Lance and Johnny Manziel. According to Elias, those are the only four first-round quarterbacks in the past 25 years to start 10 or fewer games for the team that drafted them.

But now, McCarthy has a chance to make some history with the Giants. He could be the first quarterback in that group to buck the downward trend — and revive his career.

Isaiah probably wears No. 9 for the Giants, and that might be the best thing that could happen to JJ McCarthy. Not only is McCarthy getting a fresh start with a new team after his trade from the Vikings, he’s also getting a clean break from the “Nine” alter ego he created in Minnesota to explain his game-day intensity and viral mean mugging … and then mocked when he became a first-round draft-bust and third-stringer.

“He has to become a passer. He can throw bombs and a laser over the middle as well as anybody in the sport. There are a variety of pitches missing in his arsenal. It’s 105 (miles per hour) every throw. But if he has to go in, they can run a lot of what we saw with Dart — under center, bootlegs, play-action throw down the field.”

For his second time in the NFL, the quarterback nicknamed “Nine” in Minnesota is looking to double the New York Giants on his luck, his performance and his future.