As the start of training camp for the Minnesota Vikings looms, the team's quarterback battle seems set to end up going one way, with an end date easily in mind before legit questions would come.
NFL Media's Ian Rapoport recently suggesting the competition between Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy could go "right up to the start of the season" was more eyebrow-raising than a genuine needle-mover.
Head coach Kevin O'Connell knows the starter, whoever it is, needs as much work with the other 10 first-stringers as possible during camp.
While there's no rush to name a starter, per se, the sooner someone shows himself as the best man for the job, the better.
McCarthy quickly dismissed any idea that he wanted to be traded if he doesn't win the starting job, but that scenario could make him into trade bait.
It's also fair to think a change of scenery would be the best thing for him if he's not the Week 1 starter for the Vikings, even if his fans would say keep him in case things go astray with Murray.
As much as it would really matter, trading McCarthy would also leave the Vikings with zero quarterbacks under contract for 2027.
New prediction suggests possible perfect J.J. McCarthy trade suitor for the Minnesota Vikings
On his list of 61 predictions before the 2026 season, SB Nation's Jarrett Bailey offered up a new potential McCarthy trade suitor.
"3. Vikings trade J.J. McCarthy to Ravens
The writing is on the wall for J.J. McCarthy. The Vikings won 14 games with Sam Darnold, didn’t bring him back, and then watched him win a Super Bowl while they limped to a 9-8 record.
McCarthy completed less than 60 percent of his passes with 11 touchdowns to 12 interceptions. He gets dealt to Baltimore and Jesse Minter, who won a National Championship with McCarthy at Michigan as the Wolverines’ defensive coordinator."
When thinking of teams with a coach who has a connection to McCarthy and could have interest in trading for him if it comes to that, the Los Angeles Chargers and head coach Jim Harbaugh are obvious.
The same idea applies to the Ravens and Minter now, since he was Harbaugh's defensive coordinator at Michigan for the two seasons McCarthy was the starting quarterback (2022 and 2023).
If there's a coach who could talk himself into McCarthy's potential, this side of Harbaugh anyway, it might be Minter since he also saw it up close at the college level.
Another one of Bailey's predictions had to do with "mumurs of Lamar Jackson leaving Baltimore" growing louder, as he would head into the final year of his contract in 2027 if he doesn't have an extension. With that, the Ravens could start to cast early glances toward options to be their next quarterback.
To the extent McCarthy would choose a team to be traded to, if he could, the Ravens might be high on his list due to the Minter/Michigan connection.
If they become sufficiently concerned about a post-Jackson era coming sooner than they want, maybe the Vikings could recoup a better-than-expected draft pick in a trade.
The idea of the Vikings trading McCarthy with just 10 starts on his resume feels both feasible and short-sighted at the same time. Once training camp gets rolling, that talk will either ramp up or fade away depending on how the battle for the starting job is going.
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