The Minnesota Vikings tried and failed to trade quarterback J.J. It's relatively easy to see why that didn't come to fruition... McCarthy, just two years after being selected with the No. 10 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, finds himself at the bottom of the depth chart and in need of a fresh start after an ugly sophomore campaign that showed he wasn't going to be the long-term answer.
Minnesota would have loved to give him that fresh start, but financial constraints and the lack of overall interest made it nearly impossible. The Ringer's Tom Pelissero reported on Wednesday that the third-year signal-caller simply makes too much money for teams to take the dart throw: "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," Pelissero wrote. The Vikings also didn't want to lose the former first-round pick for nothing -- for as obvious as it became that he wasn't a fit, he did deal with a myriad of injuries and remains just 23-years old while holding onto a winning record (6-4).
If you look at the entire equation, it makes sense that the same franchise who helped reclaim the careers of Sam Darnold and Kirk Cousins would like to try doing the same thing with Kyler Murray — that's kind of the whole reason everyone loves head coach Kevin O'Connell. McCarthy will almost certainly open the regular season as the Vikings' QB3 behind Murray and Carson Wentz, and if that is the case, you would have to imagine this upcoming offseason will present an opportunity for the team to eat some money and do right by the player they once coveted.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
