What if Minnesota Passed on J.J. McCarthy in the 2024 NFL Draft?
If there are more universes than the one we currently reside in, and the theory that there are an infinite number of universes out there, then in at least one of them, the Minnesota Vikings didn’t select J.J. McCarthy in the 2024 NFL Draft. There are probably many more where the Vikings don’t take a quarterback whatsoever.
Implying that that selection is turned in without being a signal caller sets off a chain reaction of questions surrounding it. Who do they take instead? Do they make that trade with the Houston Texans? Do they draft a quarterback in 2025?
All of these are impossible to answer, of course. However, it makes for a fun thought exercise!
What if Minnesota Passed on a Quarterback?
In this hypothetical, the Vikings don’t make the Texans trade, where they gained 23rd overall in 2024 in exchange for their 2024 and 2025 second-round picks. For this reason, they stand tall with pick 11 and don’t trade up with the Jets to 10th overall either. This also is huge for them in 2025, when they will again possess their second-round selection.
Since Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, and Michael Penix Jr. were all drafted ahead of Minnesota’s selection, this scenario implies that the Vikings weren’t in love with McCarthy and likely weren’t zeroed in on Bo Nix either, even though Sean Payton pulled a silly one on Minnesota and tricked them into drafting McCarthy over Nix. What a prank, Sean! This, most likely, leaves the Vikings to look to the defensive side of the ball.
Even though they ended up drafting him anyway at 17th after a trade-up with Jacksonville, the chances they end up drafting Dallas Turner out of Alabama are still very high. With how the draft turned out in real life, the Vikings would have had their pick of the litter of defensive prospects. If they didn’t go Turner, then Texas interior defensive lineman Byron Murphy II would’ve also been under heavy consideration.
What Happens To The Current Vikings?
This is the really hard one to say. The Vikings would still likely have decided to move on from Kirk Cousins and signed a quarterback like Sam Darnold, but it goes deeper from there. Does Justin Jefferson decide to sign his extension? Do the Vikings extend Danielle Hunter, leading them to pass on Turner in the draft and leave them to look elsewhere with their draft picks?
I think it’s safe to say most of the offseason looks the same. If Minnesota punts on Cousins but still decides not to go quarterback in the NFL Draft, it’s still plenty likely Jefferson still signs an extension, and the Vikings put an emphasis on the defense in free agency. Minnesota still probably signs a bridge quarterback like Darnold, but instead of a one-year deal, it might’ve been a two-year deal to cover them in the event they decide to draft a signal caller in the 2025 NFL Draft.
The 2025 NFL Draft
Minnesota Vikings QB Shedeur Sanders. Minnesota Vikings QB Carson Beck. Minnesota Vikings QB Drew Allar.
These are all possibilities if the Vikings decided not to go quarterback in 2024 and instead look to 2025 to choose the signal caller of the future.
They would essentially be playing the game they played this year, where they had to figure out which quarterbacks they were in love with enough to trade up for next year. Since McCarthy likely won’t be playing too many snaps in 2024 in real life, it’s safe to assume the Vikings’ record is about the same in this hypothetical as it is to what’s really going to happen.
Since the Vikings possess way more draft picks in this hypothetical scenario, they would have the ammunition to execute a trade-up for one of the top prospects in 2025. There’s no need to go too in-depth on this since, again, this is the same exact conversation as what happened in the plane of reality in 2024.
The View from VT: Cutting an RB, a Rim-Rattling Trade, and J.J. McCarthy Plot Twist