There are a number of reasons why the Minnesota Vikings could be holding onto former first-round quarterback J.J. McCarthy. Money appears to be one of them.
NFL insider Tom Pelissero dove into the McCarthy-Vikings situation entering Week 1 in the latest edition of his newsletter notebook Wednesday. Pelissero provided multiple on-the-field reasons to explain why the quarterback remains in Minnesota.
The NFL insider also added McCarthy’s contract has played a role.
“Here’s another factor: In a league in which eating money to facilitate trades has become commonplace, the Vikings had no way to pay down the roughly $4.85 million in guarantees remaining on McCarthy’s contract because the CBA prohibits teams from renegotiating a drafted player’s contract for three years,” wrote Pelissero.
In other words, on top of not wanting to lose McCarthy for nothing, the Vikings didn’t want to pay $4.85 million to McCarthy after releasing him.
The Vikings will open the regular season against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. McCarthy could be the team’s QB3 in that matchup.
Minnesota named free agent signee Kyler Murray its starting quarterback in August. Veteran Carson Wentz earned the backup role, moving past McCarthy on the depth chart during the preseason.
J.J. McCarthy’s Contract Played Role in Vikings QB Decision?
Money being a factor in anything is never shocking in the NFL. In this case, though, it doesn’t appear to be the driving force behind Minnesota’s decision with McCarthy.
Even if it would have cost the Vikings nothing to release McCarthy, they were unlikely to do that because he was a first-round pick. In a perfect world, Minnesota will recoup some (a very small portion) of what it cost to draft the quarterback in a trade.
A McCarthy trade, though, is complicated and not because of his contract.
“Any trade of the Vikings QB, who lost the starting job to Kyler Murray in August, would’ve been difficult for many reasons, including the list of injuries that have limited McCarthy to 10 games over his first two NFL seasons and prevented him from building momentum on some promising moments,” wrote Pelissero. “The Vikings also had no intention of just giving away a 23-year-old quarterback for nothing, especially one who’s well-liked in the locker room and has gone 6-4 as a starter.”
The Vikings don’t want to give him away for nothing, and yet, a lot of pundits would say he doesn’t hold any trade value. Super Bowl champion and NFL analyst Mark joked last week that acquiring McCarthy “would be like” trading for a case of Gatorade.
Unwilling to accept a low trade offer and aiming to not release him (in part because of money), the Vikings seem to be stuck with McCarthy until his value hopefully rises.
Will Minnesota Trade J.J. McCarthy?
At the NFL’s roster deadline on August 30, the Vikings kept four quarterbacks. In addition to McCarthy, Murray and Wentz, Max Brosmer also made the initial 53-man roster.
Since then, though, the Vikings waived Brosmer and then signed him to their practice squad.
McCarthy could considerably stay on the Vikings roster all season as the team’s QB3. But the Vikings also have two months before the league’s trade deadline.
Until then, McCarthy is likely to be a regular in the NFL rumor mill. On Tuesday, Bleacher Report’s Alex Kay ranked McCarthy the most-likely backup quarterback to be traded this season.
A lot can happen over the course of two months in the NFL season. Perhaps something changes with McCarthy’s trade value.
According to Pelissero, though, McCarthy’s contract is one of the reasons why the quarterback won’t hit the waiver wire.
NFL Insider Stirs Pot on True Reason Vikings Kept J.J. McCarthy