The Minnesota Vikings are in position to chase something they haven’t done since 2024: open the regular season 3-0. If they knock off the 0-2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, it would be only the sixth time since 2000 that they’ve started that fast.
They’ll have Kyler Murray back for Week 3, too. The 29-year-old first-year Viking missed Week 2 after getting concussed on the 11th play of Minnesota’s opener against the Green Bay Packers. With Murray back, Carson Wentz slides into the QB2 role, and 2024 first-round pick JJ McCarthy is the emergency QB3 and inactive in Tampa.
Vikings HC Kevin O'Connell announced Carson Wentz will be the No. 2 backup QB on Sunday vs. the Packers and J.J. McCarthy will be QB3.
- Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 9, 2026
That’s where McCarthy’s story gets interesting. When a former first-round quarterback is sitting third on the depth chart, the phones tend to start ringing - or, at the very least, the speculation starts flying. On Tuesday, veteran NFL reporter Gary Myers put McCarthy back into the conversation in a big way, floating the idea that the New York Giants should try to trade for him after news broke that their starter, Jaxson Dart, may be lost for the season with a knee injury from Week 2.
If Jaxson Dart is done for the year, I think the @Giants should trade for Vikings third-string QB J.J. McCarthy.
GM Joe Schoen considered him w/6th overall pick in 2024 (they took Malik Nabers). McCarthy helped Jim Harbaugh win national championship in 2023 and he loves McCarthy.
…
- Gary Myers (@GaryMyersNY) September 22, 2026
Myers laid out why he thinks the fit makes sense, pointing to the Giants’ previous interest in McCarthy, Joe Schoen’s evaluation of him in the 2024 draft, and the connection to Jim Harbaugh. He also suggested the price would be manageable and argued McCarthy could operate in the same RPO offense Dart was running, while offering the Giants a possible long-term option if things break right.
If Jaxson Dart is done for the year, I think the @Giants should trade for Vikings third-string QB J.J. McCarthy.
GM Joe Schoen considered him w/6th overall pick in 2024 (they took Malik Nabers). McCarthy helped Jim Harbaugh win national championship in 2023 and he loves McCarthy.
John and Jim often sign players with a history with each other. Probably would cost only mid-round pick and Giants could run same RPO offense they were using with Dart that is not suited to Jameis Winston.
If McCarthy plays well for Giants, can build up his value to trade him after season or supplant Winston as Dart’s backup. Low-risk move.
McCarthy has been huge disappointment in Minnesota but he’s only 23 years old, a few months older than Dart.
Gary Myers - X (Tweet above)
Myers also noted that McCarthy is only a few months older than Dart, even though their careers have taken very different routes. McCarthy has started 10 games and has a 57% completion rate, 1,632 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. A knee injury wiped out his rookie season and has clearly slowed his development.
Dart, meanwhile, has already played in 16 NFL games with 14 starts. He has completed 64.9% of his passes and thrown for 2,522 yards, 18 touchdowns and 5 interceptions.
The Giants’ interest in McCarthy is not exactly new. During the 2024 draft, they reportedly gave serious thought to taking him at No. 6 overall before choosing Malik Nabers instead. And even before Myers weighed in on Tuesday, New York had already surfaced as a possible McCarthy trade destination as recently as late August, when he was sliding down Minnesota’s depth chart.
At that time, NFL insider Jason La Canfora had mentioned the Giants as a team that could be involved if the Vikings made McCarthy available at a bargain price.
From a little less than a month ago, @JasonLaCanfora mentioned the Giants as a trade destination for Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy 👀
Should the Vikings revisit this with Jaxson Dart likely to miss the rest of this season?
Teams may be a bit more desperate now and the Giants were… https://t.co/E75YOp6LvD pic.twitter.com/YbrKYVwSLb
- The Purple Persuasion (@TPPSkol) September 22, 2026
So while McCarthy is currently buried on Minnesota’s depth chart, the situation around him hasn’t stayed quiet for long. If Dart really is headed for a season-ending absence, the Giants may have another reason to revisit the same quarterback they already had eyes on once before.
In Other News...
Eli Manning's Reaction Said Everything About The Giants' Jaxson Dart Worry
Jaxson Darts knee injury put the Giants in a tricky spot, but it was Eli Mannings reaction on ESPNs ManningCast that underscored just how uneasy the moment was. As the replay rolled during the Monday night game, Manning responded with visible concern, a reminder that this is not just another quarterback injury for a franchise still trying to settle its long-term direction. Dart, the former Ole Miss star who also spent time with the Giants, is now expected to miss 2-4 weeks.
The next few games will force the Giants and head coach John Harbaugh to make some decisions they probably hoped to avoid this early. Jameis Winston stepped in after Dart went down, finishing 11 of 27 for 111 yards and an interception, and the production only sharpened the questions around what the offense looks like while Dart is out. For a team already sorting through its quarterback picture, the timing of the injury makes the coming stretch especially uncomfortable. [Read more 🡒]
Giants May Already Be Avoiding An Early Draft Regret Conversation
The first glimpse of the Giants 2026 first-round class has already given the front office and fan base plenty to chew on. Arvell Reese and Francis Mauigoa are only through the early stages of their NFL auditions, but the opening stretch has come with some bumps, and that alone is enough to make any draft-night hindsight conversation feel a little less theoretical. With the season still young and the tape still thin, the evaluation is more about direction than verdicts, especially for a team trying to make sure its biggest investment points the right way.
What makes the exercise even more interesting is the ripple effect from the rest of the board. The Giants also kicked around names like Jordyn Tyson, Carnell Tate, Mansoor Delane and Jeremiyah Love, each of whom has his own current status and early performance to track as the season unfolds. That kind of backdrop is exactly why draft regrets are so slippery in September and beyond, because the story is rarely just about who was taken, but about who else was available and how the rest of the class develops from here. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Bring Back A Familiar Name As Defensive Line Depth Shifts
The Giants continued to shuffle the bottom of their roster by making a pair of practice-squad moves, bringing back offensive tackle Ryan Schernecke and defensive tackle C.J. Ravenall while moving on from center Kingsley Eguakun and defensive back Elijah Jones. It is the kind of early-season roster housekeeping that can fly under the radar, but for a team that is always trying to keep enough bodies available at the line of scrimmage, those spots can matter quickly.
Ravenall is the more interesting return, since he had already been claimed off waivers by the Giants before getting waived with a non-football injury designation. The team also took a look at another veteran option on the interior, hosting defensive tackle Dean Lowry for a visit as it continues to sort through its depth up front and figure out which familiar names might still fit into the picture. [Read more 🡒]