ESPN paints grim future for J.J. McCarthy with Minnesota Vikings

J.J. McCarthy might not be long for the Minnesota Vikings after the addition of Kyler Murray this offseason. The former No. 10 overall pick out of Michigan missed his entire rookie season due to injury and then struggled on and off the field with his play and more injuries in 2025.

After letting Sam Darnold walk to Seattle, and win a Super Bowl, the Vikings are at a crossroads when it comes to the most important position in football. Murray and McCarthy are in direct competition and ESPN’s Dan Graziano pointed towards Murray as the likely starter. Even still, the Vikings reportedly haven’t given up on their former first round investment, per Graziano.

“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,” Graziano wrote. “It’s probably a long shot, but again, there doesn’t seem to be much they would gain from trading him at this point.”

Don’t forget, Murray is essentially a rental for the Vikings. If it works out, they have their new quarterback. If it doesn’t, then either McCarthy is their guy or there is a big reset button push coming.

“Murray is signed for one year, and his deal prohibits the Vikings from franchise-tagging him next offseason,” Graziano wrote. “There’s a world in which Minnesota gets to the end of this season believing that McCarthy has figured some things out and can still be what it thought he would be. If not, maybe then the Vikings cut bait. But there’s no reason to do it now.”

The Vikings finished 9-8 with a combination of QBs that included McCarthy and Carson Wentz, whom they brought back in free agency this offseason, in 2025.

“We’ve played three guys in one year,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said. “We’ve played four in another. We just feel like having the ability to get quality quarterback play throughout the circumstances we do not control throughout the season gives our team pretty historic data that says if we get quarterback play to a certain line, we win a lot of football games. So we wanted to ensure we are able to do that, but also make it a very, very competitive room and that’s regardless of who’s taking reps with what group.”

As of now, no decisions have been made about McCarthy, Murray or Wentz. One thing is evident, this could be the last chance for McCarthy in Minnesota.

“Knowing that we feel comfortable and confident about the depth of our quarterback room, we want to prepare all of those guys to be able to take snaps and contribute to winning when called upon,” O’Connell said at the NFL owner’s meetings. “What that looks like, we’ll see.”