The future of J.J. McCarthy remains uncertain after losing the Minnesota Vikings‘ QB battle. McCarthy is QB2 for now and will need to wait for his opportunity to see the field, though that’s a possibility given Kyler Murray’s injury history.
Nonetheless, there’s also the possibility of a trade to give McCarthy a fresh start elsewhere, especially if it’s a team needing a QB due to injury, should an issue arise between now and the start of the regular season.
Now, trades within division rivals rarely happen, but Mark Powell of FanSided believes that the Vikings and Detroit Lions would be ideal trade partners in a trade involving McCarthy.
As part of his trade idea, the Vikings would receive a 2027 third-round pick while the Lions would bring McCarthy back to the state of Michigan.
“If the Lions didn’t play in the NFC North, then they’d be an obvious choice as a landing spot for McCarthy,” Powell wrote in an Aug. 12 article. “As productive as Jared Goff has been, he’s also in his early-30’s and has a potential out in 2028.
“It helps that the Lions’ backup QB is now Josh Dobbs after Teddy Bridgewater retired for good this time. McCarthy would be a useful addition to the QB room on two fronts, then, but the Lions would have to overpay.”
Vikings Might Have Hesitation to Trading J.J. McCarthy
Regarding the Vikings’ part of this trade idea, Powell believes Minnesota might not be willing to deal McCarthy due to potential seller’s remorse, especially if the former first-round pick lands in a situation that can tap into his potential. Still, he believes a conditional third-round pick might be too much for Minnesota to pass on.
“While I can certainly relate to the hesitence the Vikings would almost certainly feel at trading McCarthy to a division rival, if the Lions make the best offer by a wide margin, then that should end the discussion,” Powell added in his article. “Again, it’s not as if McCarthy is an All-Pro starting quarterback right now.
“It’s unlikely he ever reaches those heights, and therefore he won’t haunt the Vikings for years to come. If McCarthy does reach his potential, then the Vikings will have seller’s remorse no matter where they trade him. A third-round pick in a loaded 2027 draft class — albeit conditional — is a nice asset to add to the Vikings’ cupboard.”
Minnesota Criticized After J.J. McCarthy Loses QB Battle
Nonetheless, while it’s easy to take digs at McCarthy while he’s down, Nick Wright of FS1 did sort of criticize Minnesota for how they’ve handled the young QB’s development after deciding to go with Murray.
“I hate everything about their process from the moment they drafted J.J. McCarthy to right now,” Wright said on the Aug. 11 edition of “First Things First.” “And it’s borderline unprecedented. For their entire MO to be, we can win 11, 12 games with Kirk Cousins. There’s a ceiling there. It’s not good enough. We’re going to draft a quarterback. We then, after we draft the quarterback, he gets hurt. That was before they had soured on him at all.
“He’d played a preseason game, played well in it, got hurt. Sam Darnold, we win 14 games with Sam Darnold. Doesn’t matter. We want the upside of the young player… You drafted an incredibly raw, very young first-round pick, had 10 starts, and you’re just out on him. For me, in service of, in my opinion, a very limited player, the process of it to me is disastrous.”
Vikings Get Surprising J.J. McCarthy Trade Idea Involving Lions