{"id":946124,"date":"2026-07-15T11:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T11:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/946124\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T11:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T11:06:16","slug":"colts-vikings-receive-intriguing-j-j-mccarthy-trade-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/946124\/","title":{"rendered":"Colts, Vikings Receive Intriguing J.J. McCarthy Trade Idea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"780\" height=\"439\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784113576_697_jj-mccarthy-minnesota-vikings.jpg\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"J.J. McCarthy, Minnesota Vikings\"   decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>(Photo by Michael Reaves\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>The future of J.J. McCarthy could get cloudy should he lose the <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/minnesota-vikings\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Minnesota Vikings<\/a> QB competition to Kyler Murray. After last season, in which McCarthy had a rollercoaster season, showing promise but also concern, the Vikings decided to bring in competition for the young QB.<\/p>\n<p>Murray comes into this competition looking to prove that he\u2019s still a starting QB in the league after the <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/arizona-cardinals\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Arizona Cardinals<\/a> cut ties with him this offseason. Furthermore, many expect the former No. 1 pick to win the competition.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, the question will be: If Murray does become QB1, what happens to McCarthy? Is he QB2, or would Minnesota be open to trading the former first-round pick?<\/p>\n<p>Wynston Wilcox of FanSided put together a trade idea that would send McCarthy to the <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/indianapolis-colts\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Indianapolis Colts<\/a>. In this hypothetical scenario, the Colts would get McCarthy while the Vikings would receive Anthony Richardson Sr. and a 2027 seventh-round pick. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is by far the most intriguing mock trade on this list,\u201d <a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/fansided.com\/nfl\/reasonable-j-j-mccarthy-trade-packages-the-vikings-should-take-if-he-loses-qb1-job-for-good\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">Wilcox wrote in a July 14 article<\/a>. \u201cThe Indianapolis Colts are done with Anthony Richardson Sr. and the Vikings have been rumored to be interested in the former No. 4 overall pick. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre those rumors true? Well, that\u2019s another discussion, but there could be a rare, backup quarterback swap between these two teams and it\u2019s not that far-fetched. At the end of the day, the Colts do need a serviceable backup quarterback and McCarthy could be that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>J.J. McCarthy Could Find His Way Into the Colts\u2019 Starting Job<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, McCarthy could find his way into the Colts\u2019 starting job if Daniel Jones struggles to find the form that he had before his Achilles injury. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cDaniel Jones is the Colts\u2019 guy, but he\u2019s also coming off an Achilles injury,\u201d Wilcox added in his article. \u201cIf he\u2019s ailing to start the year or doesn\u2019t quite play to the level he did pre-injury, McCarthy could save them from another failed season without a first-round pick. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs for the Vikings, they get rid of a frustrated quarterback and bring in one they\u2019ll have no choice but to be patient with. Richardson isn\u2019t starting with his next team, at least right away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last season with the Vikings, McCarthy had 310 pass snaps,\u00a0<a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pff.com\/nfl\/players\/jj-mccarthy\/144918\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">leading to a 61.8 overall PFF grade<\/a>. Moreover, he threw for 1,632 passing yards and 11 touchdowns against 12 interceptions while also recording 19 big-time throws and 15 turnover-worthy plays.<\/p>\n<p>Anthony Richardson Sr. Could Be a Project for the Vikings<\/p>\n<p>In the Vikings\u2019 case, Richardson could slide into the QB3 role and become a project for head coach Kevin O\u2019Connell, given that in this scenario Murray would be QB1 and Carson Wentz would be QB2. Minnesota is only guaranteed to have Murray for this season, and Richardson could be an option for next season if O\u2019Connell sees starter potential in him. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven if Murray is their interim option if he plays well in 2026, Richardson could be a player they have in their back pocket,\u201d Wilcox wrote. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cPairing Richardson with Kevin O\u2019Connell and that offense is just about the only solution he has to an NFL future \u2014 though a move to the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/green-bay-packers\/\" title=\"Green Bay Packers\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"340987\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Green Bay Packers<\/a> is equally intriguing. It\u2019s rare to see teams swap quarterbacks, but in this situation, I wouldn\u2019t put it past either team to do this in an effort to simply move on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/eddierazo91\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Eduardo Razo<\/a> Eduardo Razo is a sports writer for Heavy.com, covering the NFL, MLB, and college football. He has previously covered the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB for NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports Bay Area &amp; California, and has freelanced for PSG Talk, covering Paris Saint-Germain. He also worked as an editor at Athlon Sports, focusing on MLB and the NFL. <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/eddierazo91\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More about Eduardo Razo<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty (Photo by Michael Reaves\/Getty Images) The future of J.J. McCarthy could get cloudy should he lose the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":946125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[7,233,259,2529,6,234],"class_list":["post-946124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota-vikings","tag-football","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-minnesotavikings","tag-nfl","tag-vikings"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116923674773007411","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=946124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/946125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}