The Minnesota Vikings have an enormous amount riding on second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy, and his play early this preseason isn’t inspiring an abundance of confidence.
McCarthy tossed at least one interception in three straight days of work this week, which allowed for added volume to the arguments from detractors who have looked at the 22-year-old QB with an upturned eyebrow ever since the Vikings drafted him No. 10 overall in 2024.
Among those questioning McCarthy is Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports
“There’s so much mystery here. Why does Minnesota keep flirting with other quarterbacks? And there are too many conflicting reports on McCarthy,” “Cowherd said on an episode of “The Herd,” which aired Wednesday, June 11. “I feel like sometimes there’s a bit of a spin job here. His arm and escapeability are modest. His release wasn’t super quick. There’s no great trait.”
That McCarthy suffered a knee injury last August that required two surgeries to repair and cost him his entire rookie campaign certainly did him no favors. That he has yet to take a regular-season snap in the NFL also works against him with regards to the doubters.
One solution to put fans and McCarthy’s teammates at ease is for Minnesota to explore a trade for former starting quarterback Kirk Cousins as an insurance policy.
Vikings Must Weigh J.J. McCarthy’s Confidence Against Chances He Struggles With Talented Roster Around Him
Cousins knows head coach Kevin O’Connell’s system and led the first Vikings team O’Connell ever coached to a playoff berth in 2022.
Cousins tore his Achilles tendon in the middle of 2023 and left for $180 million from the Atlanta Falcons the following offseason. He started 14 games in Atlanta last season before the coaching staff benched him for Michael Penix Jr.
The Falcons are now shopping Cousins after paying him a $10 million roster bonus in March. The team still owes the QB $27.5 million in base salary for 2025 and is looking for a moderate asset or two and a trade partner willing to take on a chunk of that salary as return in a deal.
Moving on Cousins now could plant a seed of doubt in McCarthy’s head, so it may make sense to give him more rope and wait and see how he develops.
That said, the Vikings considered inking Aaron Rodgers to a one-year contract earlier this preseason, but chose instead to trade for middling signal caller Sam Howell who has been below-average across 20 games played in the league (5-13, with 22 TDs and 23 INTs in 20 appearances over three years).
Kirk Cousins Better Option for Vikings Than Sam Howell if J.J. McCarthy Struggles, Gets Injured
If McCarthy struggles early or gets hurt, Howell doesn’t make sense as a player to whom Minnesota would hand over the keys to a Super Bowl-caliber offense.
Under those circumstances, going after Cousins makes perhaps more sense than any other scenario given his success in Minnesota in recent years with this coaching staff and several members of the 2025 offensive roster.
Dan Graziano of ESPN authored a trade pitch on June 4, in which the Vikings send Atlanta a future sixth-rounder and seventh-rounder in exchange for Cousins.
“[Cousins] wants a chance to start and could use his no-trade clause to nix a deal to any place he doesn’t want to go,” Graziano wrote. “But if he has to be a backup, we know he liked living in Minnesota and playing for the Vikings. Plus, J.J. McCarthy is still an unknown after his major knee injury, so maybe this could turn into more than just a QB2 destination.”
