The Minnesota Vikings landed free agent quarterback Kyler Murray on Thursday. The 28-year-old signed a one-year deal for the league veteran minimum and is expected to be the team’s starter for the 2026 season. That, however, leaves 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy on the bench needing to vastly outwork Murray to earn the QB1 spot back.
The 23-year-old passer missed his entire rookie season due to a torn meniscus, and his 2025 campaign came up well short of impressive (1,632 yards, 11 TDs, 12 INTs in 10 games).
But given the Murray signing, Minnesota may be signaling its ready to move on from the Michigan product… for the right price. One team that should be picking up the phone to attempt securing a long-term fix at quarterback is the Cleveland Browns.
Browns trade for Vikings’ J.J. McCarthy would mutually benefit both teams
McCarthy still has a lot of upside but with the Vikings clearly having seller’s remorse after letting Sam Darnold walk only for him to win a Super Bowl in year one with the Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota is skipping the development phase and jumping straight to win-now mode.
Cleveland is historically known as QB hell but with Deshaun Watson on his way out (at some point) and the duo of Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders falling over each other to claim the starter role, the Browns should consider McCarthy.
The 2024 College Football Playoff national champion was rated a lot higher as a prospect compared to Sanders and would provide more than sufficient competition in training camp. Iron sharpens i