Whether Minnesota Vikings fans like it or not, chatter about the team potentially trading quarterback J.J. McCarthy this year probably isn't going to go away anytime soon. Minnesota has to figure out what is going to be best for its 2026 quarterback room, and if the team doesn't believe McCarthy will win the starting job, trading him elsewhere could be a possible outcome.
So, which teams might be interested in making a deal with the Vikings to acquire the third-year signal-caller in the near future?
During a recent episode of his "Thor Talks Purple" podcast, SKOR North's Thor Nystrom listed off a few places that Minnesota could send McCarthy this year, including one that's a little outside the box. On Nystrom's list of potential McCarthy destinations are the Pittsburgh Steelers, Los Angeles Chargers, Miami Dolphins, and Indianapolis Colts.
Pittsburgh Steelers, Miami Dolphins among teams mentioned as possible trade destinations for Minnesota Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy
For the Steelers, Nystrom shares why they could be a potential trade partner with the Vikings in a deal involving McCarthy.
"The Steelers make a lot of sense and then you would have, funny enough, you would have Aaron Rodgers and J.J. McCarthy in the same quarterback room one year after the [Vikings talked to Rodgers], right? Just in a different city, and with Rodgers, the last season there, that would make a lot of sense for them.”
His explanation for listing the Chargers is exactly what you thought it would be.
"The Chargers, because of the [Jim] Harbaugh thing, and they don't have a QB3 right now, their QB2 is Trey Lance. I could see that.”
The Dolphins being mentioned felt a little out of the box, but Nystrom's reasoning certainly makes it more of a believable landing spot for McCarthy.
"The Dolphins are another one that's tossed out a lot.
[Miami] made the bet on Malik Willis, [so], you see where that goes. But because of that, the Dolphins probably will not be taking a quarterback in the stacked draft next year, unless Malik Willis totally, totally falls on his face, because you're gonna go through with that for two years.
And then the backup quarterback right now for the Dolphins is Quinn Ewers, and they don't really have a third quarterback, so that could make sense.”
The Colts are definitely the team among these four that is the most surprising, especially since they just gave Daniel Jones a ton of money. But Nystrom lays out a scenario where he could see McCarthy potentially ending up in Indianapolis.
"The Colts, you're in a really bad situation where Daniel Jones, the guy you gave all this money to, is coming off of the devastating injury, and might not be ready for the start of the regular season, and on a normal recovery timeline, he wouldn't be until October.
We'll just have to see the way that it plays out, but if that is the case, and you don't, right now, have a quarterback for September, or the first six weeks, or whatever, and in particular, you would have no depth as well.
...They have to do something with their quarterback depth heading into the season, and this would be a clever way. I think them kicking the tires on this kind of a situation, maybe it takes care of one of their problems and also provides them a solution.”
Nystrom mentioned how the Colts' quarterback depth behind Jones right now consists of Anthony Richardson, Riley Leonard, and Easton Stick. It's not exactly a room that any team would feel comfortable with heading into a season with a starting signal-caller surrounded by question marks.
Some might feel Richardson is sufficient enough to start a few games for Indianapolis if Jones still isn't cleared to play at the beginning of next season. But among the small list of quarterbacks that McCarthy proved to be more efficient than during his 10 games in 2025, Richardson would be included in that group.
Minnesota trading its third-year quarterback this summer still feels more like a rumor than an actual possibility at this point. But when national NFL insiders are mentioning it during public media appearances, it's definitely worth keeping an eye on.
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