JJ McCarthy’s storyline was nice when he was leading the Minnesota Vikings back from the brink against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field in Week 1, but his trajectory has been pretty much all downhill from there.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell detailed several glaring facts about McCarthy’s 2025 season, as well as his injury-ridden career, that scream the time has come for the Vikings to bail on the 22-year-old QB.
“He has looked unplayably bad for stretches, and while there have been some positive games against truly awful NFC East defenses, McCarthy’s 36.2 Total QBR would rank 29th in the league if the 2024 first-round pick had thrown enough passes to qualify,” Barnwell wrote on December 29.
Even more concerning are the health issues. McCarthy has suffered four serious injuries in less than two years and the missed time is staggering.
He sat out his entire rookie campaign with a knee injury, missed five games this season with a high-ankle sprain, missed another with a concussion and has already sat out once with a hairline fracture in his throwing hand.
Barnwell noted that if McCarthy misses the final game of the year against the Green Bay Packers, injuries will have robbed him of 25 of 34 regular season games across his first two NFL seasons.
Nine starts in two years may not offer enough data to categorically condemn a quarterback for good, but 25 missed games due to injuries represent a reasonable opening to that conversation. And while the Vikings wouldn’t serve themselves to move on from McCarthy indiscriminately at this point, the team must bring in viable competition for the starting role.
The two best options to emerge for that opportunity this year are Mac Jones of the San Francisco 49ers and Malik Willis of the Packers.
Option 1: Vikings Trade 3rd-Round Pick to 49ers for Mac Jones
GettyQuarterback Mac Jones of the San Francisco 49ers.
McCarthy still has two years and a fifth-year team option remaining on his rookie contract. If he can stay healthy and make a leap, maybe the narrative on him as a longterm option in Minnesota changes.
But the Vikings can’t afford to waste another year of above-average defense and superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson’s prime, so pursuing a talented young player in a short-term/prove-it setting to compete with McCarthy is the ideal solution for a salary cap-strapped Vikings team in 2026.
Jones fits the bill after rebuilding his value with the 49ers this season. Brock Purdy battled injuries through much of the early and middle portions of the campaign, and Jones stepped in expertly. He has appeared 11 games and earned a record of 5-3 across eight starts. Jones has completed 69.6 percent of his passes for 2,151 yards, 13 TDs and six INTs.
He is under contract for one more season and carries a $2.8 million base salary in 2026 on an $8.4 million contract. The most expensive thing about him is the Day 2 pick (most likely third-rounder) that a team like Minnesota will have to surrender to pry him from San Francisco this offseason.
Sam Darnold followed the same path of a first-round pick in the AFC East, to backup status, to new life in the Bay Area and finally to a revamped career under Kevin O’Connell in Minnesota. It worked once, it can work again. And if it doesn’t, the Vikings are entirely uncommitted beyond next season.
Option 2: Vikings Sign Packers Backup QB Malik Willis in Free Agency Next March
GettyQuarterback Malik Willis of the Green Bay Packers.
If the Vikings prefer to keep their draft picks and look to free agency for McCarthy insurance and/or an alternative, Willis is a strong option whose stock has improved in each of the past two seasons after Green Bay traded a seventh-round pick to the Tennessee Titans to acquire him.
The former third-rounder in 2022 has amassed 1,322 passing yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions while completing nearly 68 percent of his throws across 22 career games. He owns a record of 3-3 as a starter.
Willis is a dual-threat quarterback who can also win with his legs. He has tallied 74 rushes for a total of 405 yards and four TDs in his NFL career.
“There are a lot of teams that are going to be in the QB market this offseason,” ESPN’s Dan Graziano wrote on December 24, mentioning the Vikings by name. “Not all of them will be able to address the position via the draft, and several have their eyes on Willis as a potential solution given what he has been able to do in Green Bay.”
Willis produced the best game of his career against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 17, throwing for 288 yards and one TD on 18-of-21 passing. He also rushed the football for 60 yards and two scores.
There isn’t going to be a QB competition in Green Bay with Jordan Love, and the league-wide interest in Willis is likely at an all-time high, which means he will probably come available. The downside is that he will be more expensive due to those factors and represents a potentially longer, and almost certainly more expensive, investment than a player like Jones does via trade.
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