Matt Johnson
The Minnesota Vikings brought in significant competition for quarterback J.J. McCarthy this offseason, with Kyler Murray viewed as the presumptive starter. It’s raised questions regarding McCarthy’s future in Minnesota.
ESPN‘ Dan Graziano explaiend that it “doesn’t make a lot of sense” right now for the Vikings to trade their former first-round pick just two years after moving up for him in the NFL Draft. For now, they are hoping that competition brings out the best in McCarthy.
“People I’ve talked to who are close to this situation insist that the Vikings haven’t given up on McCarthy — that part of their hope is bringing in Murray sends some sort of shock to McCarthy’s system and gets him refocused on whatever they think he got away from last year. It’s probably a long shot, but again, there doesn’t seem to be much they would gain from trading him at this point.”
Dan Graziano on if the Minnesota Vikings will trade QB J.J. McCarthy
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Recent reporting has made it clear that there’s no early leader in the Vikings’ quarterback competition. While Murray boasts a vastly superior resume, Minnesota wants to give McCarthy a legitimate shot to win the starting job.
McCarthy does have two things going for him. First, there’s already familiarity with Kevin O’Connell’s system and he has rapport with the Vikings’ receiving corps. Furthermore, Minnesota also has more invested in him and would prefer the outcome where he becomes the long-term starting quarterback.
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Things get a lot more interesting if McCarthy loses the starting quarterback competition. Minnesota also re-signed veteran signal-caller Carson Wentz this offseason.
Wentz vastly outperformed McCarthy this past season, completing 65.1 percent of his passes with a 6-5 TD-INT line, an 85.8 passer rating, and he averaged 7.2 yards per attempt. For comparison, McCarthy completed just 57.6 percent of his passes with an 11-12 TD-INT ratio, a 72.6 QB rating, and he averaged 6.7 yards per attempt.
As Graziano also noted, the Vikings have already paid 70 percent of McCarthy’s rookie contract and their original draft-capital investment in him is never being recouped in a trade.
If McCarthy struggles this summer and in the preseason, Minnesota would presumably move forward with Murray as its starter and Wentz as the backup quarterback. In that case, as the third-string passer on the Vikings depth chart, McCarthy and his agent may push for a trade to get a fresh start with another franchise.
