NFL Expert Predicts Who Might Trade for J.J. McCarthy

The J.J. McCarthy trade buzz continues as we approach mid-April. The Minnesota Vikings quarterback has been an easy target in trade speculation no matter how unlikely a trade would be for the third-year signal caller.

Bleacher Report's Gary Davenport discussed what a potential trade could look like and what teams might be involved. Davenport labeled the Arizona Cardinals and New York Jets as top trade candidates with the following description.

"This is a trade that likely would not materialize until later in the summer, once the Vikings have a fuller evaluation of their quarterback room and acknowledge that, despite his flaws, Murray is currently the more proven NFL option than McCarthy.

The point is coming where Minnesota will have two choices: hand McCarthy a clipboard or trade the third-year pro while he still has some value.

Will McCarthy ever be a viable NFL starter? That remains unclear. With at least two years left on his rookie deal, a quarterback-needy team might still consider offering a second-round pick to the Vikings for the 23-year-old, even if that level of investment would be risky and could backfire—as many aggressive QB swings have for struggling franchises."

It's hard to say the McCarthy era was a failure given that it was only given 10 games to solidify. McCarthy, though unproductive, was not a disaster in Minnesota as the starting quarterback. He simply was not productive enough.

The potential is still there for McCarthy to become the quarterback the Vikings hoped he would become, but that may not happen with Minnesota. The former No. 10 pick was replaced by No. 1 overall talent Kyler Murray, who came in from the Arizona Cardinals. Ironically, Davenport projects that the Cardinals could be interested in bringing in a Vikings quarterback after sending Murray on his way out of Arizona.

McCarthy to the Cardinals would be a full circle moment for both Arizona and Minnesota, as they would have essentially swapped quarterbacks. Then again, it's unlikely that really any team will be trading for the former Michigan quarterback this offseason.

Davenport suggests that McCarthy has trade value in the present. Perhaps that depends on who you ask. While not a failure, he did not strongly indicate enough that he would be a success. At least, not enough that a team would go out and actively pursue a trade to bring him to their team. Even so, it stands as another interesting wrinkle in the Vikings' quarterback offseason.