The Raiders will be adding a quarterback in the offseason and many believe their best path to a franchise quarterback in the months ahead will come by means of a trade.
One quarterback the Raiders are believed to be interested in is 2023 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy, but it isn’t clear yet if the Vikings will consider trading him.
The assumption is that the Vikings will want to re-sign Sam Darnold and if Darnold returns to Minnesota on a long-term deal, at least one NFL media personality believes they will entertain offers for McCarthy.
“If it’s a mega deal for Sam Darnold, then J.J. McCarthy is going to be on the trade market and the going price for J.J. is going to be a first rounder,” Yahoo and FOX Sports host Jason Fitz said this week on Raider Nation Radio’s The Morning Tailgate.
“Every draft pundit I’ve talked to has said pretty squarely that if they were ranking last year’s quarterbacks, J.J. would be ahead of this year’s class,” Fitz continued. “So, J.J., in the eyes of many scouts is actually a better prospect than Cam [Ward] or Shedeur [Sanders],” Fitz continued. “My question is… is one first rounder going to get J.J., or is it going to be a first and something else? And you better know where the health stands on it.”
“But yeah, if they give Donald a long term deal, there’s going to be a bidding war for JJ McCarthy. I’m sure there’s just too many teams that need a quarterback.”
The Vikings have first and fourth-round picks invested in McCarthy and that could be their asking price going forward.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vinny Bonsignore responded to Fitz’s comments and he believes the cost to get McCarthy will not be more than a first round pick.
“I don’t see that it would be a first [round pick] and something else,” Bonsignore said. “And the reason I say that is because you’re taking that fifth year. Now you only have it for four years rather than the full five years. So I think that that one year makes a big difference in terms of what you can get.”
There’s a lot that has to play out before McCarthy can be a trade target for the Raiders or anyone else, but the former Michigan quarterback is still only 21 years old and could end up being a better value than the top quarterback prospects in this year’s draft.
