Another Ridiculous Vikings Trade Theory …
NFL pundits with a national audience just love connecting Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy to other teams via trade.
Another Ridiculous Vikings Trade Theory …
The working theory suggests that the Vikings would re-sign Sam Darnold — yes, the guy who collapsed in the season’s final two games when it mattered the most — to a juicy new contract and let McCarthy walk via trade.
The ideas are akin to Justin Jefferson trade talk last year that was media-driven, out of left field, and never realistic.
Bleacher Report was the culprit this week, sending McCarthy to the Las Vegas Raiders in a trade proposal that would fetch the Vikings the sixth overall pick. BR called it a trade “they’d like to see.”
“The Vikings have one of the most interesting offseason decisions to make with their quarterback situation,” BR’s scouting department explained. “Teams around the league should be keeping a close eye on what they decide to do with Darnold’s free agency, because there will either be a promising quarterback prospect who could be on the market or a veteran whose stock is on the rise.”
McCarthy played one preseason game for Minnesota as a rookie and tore his meniscus after looking great for about an hour of real-life time. Darnold ascended to QB1 accordingly.
“The Vikings have the lowest investment in this year’s draft with just four total picks and two in the top 100. They could change that quickly if they were willing to trade McCarthy. The Michigan quarterback might have been the top quarterback prospect in this class, and he was only 21 when he was drafted,” BR added.
“In this deal, the Raiders could simply use their sixth overall selection to draft a quarterback who may be better than any passer in this draft, and the Vikings get a chance to add a difference-maker to their promising roster.”
Ironically, the Raiders are the top destination right now for Darnold‘s services, at least according to the rumor mill. With the sixth overall pick in the draft, Las Vegas isn’t an ideal spot to select a quarterback, as Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders will likely be off the board.
McCarthy is on track to be ready for Vikings’ spring and summer operations, according to SI.com’s Albert Breer. “The Minnesota Vikings are really happy with J.J. McCarthy. He’s back moving around and throwing, and will have a full offseason following August’s meniscus repair and a subsequent second procedure in the fall that turned out to be more of a cleanup than anything else. In turn, Minnesota now has some flexibility with Sam Darnold,” Breer wrote Monday.
On the whole, Minnesota is markedly more likely to let Darnold walk via free agency or franchise tag-and-trade than to trade McCarthy, well, anywhere.
McCarthy turned 22 last week.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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