After losing Carson Wentz to a season-ending injury, the Minnesota Vikings may have good reason to shop the market for a potential quarterback deal before the NFL trade deadline passes at 4 p.m. ET next Tuesday.
The question is: How much are they looking to hedge their bet with J.J. McCarthy?
In the aftermath of the Wentz news, ESPN’s Ben Solak pitched the possibility of the Vikings adding another former first-round pick to their quarterback room and cutting a deal with the Indianapolis Colts for Anthony Richardson before next week’s deadline.
Solak proposed that the Vikings would send a 2026 third-round pick and a conditional 2027 sixth-rounder to the Colts in exchange for Richardson and a 2026 fifth-rounder.
“The price (a third-round pick) might look big,” Solak wrote Tuesday. “But Trey Lance was moved for a fourth-round pick two years into his career, and Richardson has been better and played more at a similar career stage. Plus, there’s a fifth-rounder going back.
“I don’t think Richardson would walk in and immediately start (the Flacco, as we call it). But if McCarthy continues to struggle getting his ankle back to health, then Richardson would get a crack at the starting gig after a week or two of learning the offense. If McCarthy gets back in time, Richardson gives Minnesota another young dart throw at a position where it must hit on a cost-controlled player to keep the rest of the roster paid.”
Anthony Richardson’s Health Raises Major Questions
Richardson is an appealing young quarterback with one of the strongest cases to find a new team after losing his starting job to former Vikings veteran Daniel Jones in 2025, but is trading the Colts for their former No. 4 overall pick in the Vikings’ best interest?
Once viewed as the Colts’ future franchise quarterback, Richardson has seen his career knocked off course because of his injuries and inconsistent performance. He played just four games as a rookie before a shoulder injury ended his season in early October.
While he bounced back to play 11 games in 2024, he completed just 47.7% of his passes and threw eight touchdowns to 12 interceptions, motivating the Colts to sign Jones.
Now, Richardson is riding the bench while Jones has the Colts on a 7-1 winning streak, but it is not as simple as the Vikings calling about Richardson and making a small offer.
The Colts have stayed adamant that they still envision a bright future for Richardson, which at the very least indicates they would not trade him away for a meager return. That’s likely why Solak pitched a third-rounder as the top compensation for the Colts.
Given their situation, though, the Vikings must consider whether Richardson — an injury-plagued third-year quarterback — is a viable answer for them. He is not a clear upgrade over McCarthy, whom the Vikings have invested much more in.
Richardson is also currently on IR with a fractured orbital bone that he sustained in a pregame mishap with a resistance band and isn’t eligible to return until November 10.
Is that someone whom the Vikings could trust? Likely not.
Will Vikings Put All Their Chips on J.J. McCarthy?
The Vikings are unlikely to see their names fade from the discussions about potential quarterback trades in the remaining days before next Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline. Given what the market could offer them, though, is a trade truly their best choice?
The honeymoon phase with McCarthy did not last long in Minnesota. The Vikings somewhat boldly declined to re-sign veteran Sam Darnold or Jones after a 14-3 season in 2024 so that they could throw their full weight behind McCarthy’s development, but he made it just two games into his first healthy season before suffering another injury.
Since then, the conversation has seemed to sharply turn away from McCarthy despite what the Vikings have invested in him and how little time he has actually gotten to play. Some of the impatience with McCarthy is only natural after a 14-3 campaign, but he is effectively an NFL rookie who is going into his third career game after six weeks out.
Don’t the Vikings owe it to him and their own decision-making to give him more time instead of trading for another first-rounder with 1 1/2 years left on a $34 million deal?
The trade deadline could provide an answer when it passes next Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET.
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