The Minnesota Vikings have placed their faith in J.J. McCarthy, who is coming off a season-ending knee injury in 2024. CBS Sports’ Tyler Sullivan named the Vikings as a potential trade destination for Jameis Winston. He would be a fallback option.
Winston, a backup for the New York Giants, is well-traveled. He has had stints with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who selected him No. 1 overall in the 2015 draft, and the New Orleans Saints.
A fan favorite around the NFL, he would bring a proven track record to the Vikings with a trade.
This Heavy Sports Vikings trade pitch would send a late-round pick to the Giants for Winston. He is on a two-year, $8 million contract. However, he is buried on New York’s depth chart behind 10-time Pro Bowler Russell Wilson and possibly rookie first-round pick Jaxson Dart.
Vikings get:
- Jameis WInston
Giants get:
- 2026 seventh-round pick
The Giants maintain Winston is not available, but the writing may be on the wall.
“While the plan remains for Wilson to be the Giants’ Week 1 starter, Dart has crashed the party in the QB room with a sensational preseason. Along with bringing up questions regarding if/when Dart should see the field in 2025, it may also make a veteran like Winston expendable. If so, the Vikings make some sense as a possible destination,” Sullivan wrote on August 19.
“If the Vikings are nervous about their depth behind a first-year starter, Winston gives them someone who has 87 regular-season starts under his belt.”
Winston, 31, could intrigue Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell into signing off on a trade. The QB has thrown for 24,225 yards, 154 touchdowns, and 111 interceptions on 61.2% completion in his career. That includes spending the 2024 season with the Cleveland Browns.
Jameis Winston an Intriguing Potential Fit for Vikings
GettyJameis Winston #19 of the New York Giants in action against the New York Jets.
Winston is infamously known as the first QB in NFL history to throw 30-plus TDs and 30-plus INTs in a season. He has set numerous other passing records, though. Whether or not Winston would be a fit for O’Connell and the Vikings in a trade is unclear.
O’Connell has clear ideas about what he is looking for from his quarterbacks.
However, he is also keen on finding what passers do well that cannot be taught and what they struggle with.
“I think about the things that are fixable, I think about the things that are coachable,” O’Connell said during a lecture for “Faith & Life” in April 2024. “And then you think about the things that you could coach another 15 years with the player and you might not be able to fix. And hope and faith are wonderful things; I don’t like them to necessarily be strategies.
“I do very much believe in certain principles of playing the quarterback position. I believe the footwork in the lower half of any quarterback can be fixed with the proper coaching and teaching.”
“When you see the good things on tape, you see things that they can do better on tape,” O’Connell said. “You’re looking for a lot of different things and to check a lot of boxes.”
Winston’s propensity to turn the ball over is as high as his ability to put points on the board.
The issue the Vikings would face when deciding whether or not to pursue a trade, and specifically a target like Winston, is whether or not they have much of a choice. There remains plenty of uncertainty around their current group.
Vikings QB Situation Could Spark Trade
GettySam Howell #8 of the Minnesota Vikings reacts against the Houston Texans.
The Vikings are four-deep in their quarterback room. McCarthy leads the way. The group also includes veteran career backup Brett Rypien, Vikings trade pickup Sam Howell, and rookie undrafted free agent Max Brosmer.
Like McCarthy, Brosmer, and even Howell, offer the intrigue of upside. However, they also offer few (or, in Howell’s case, disappointing), if any, results behind them.
“Minnesota is about to hand the keys to the franchise over to 2024 first-rounder J.J. McCarthy, and don’t have much behind him at the moment,” Sullivan wrote. “Sam Howell is the top backup, but he’s put together a lackluster preseason which included completing just one of his five passes for 13 yards and an interception against New England.”
The Vikings’ season could very well hinge on McCarthy staying healthy.
The Vikings could stick with that approach, or they can make a trade offer to the Giants for Winston, or a player of a similar caliber to hedge against their bet on the former Michigan Wolverine.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Vikings Floated as Trade Destination for History-Making Fan Favorite QB appeared first on Heavy Sports.