Did the Vikings admit J.J. McCarthy was a bust by trading him to the Giants for a 5th-round pick?

On September 28, 2026, the Minnesota Vikings shipped quarterback J.J. McCarthy to the New York Giants for just a 2027 fifth-round pick — barely two years after drafting him tenth overall in the 2024 NFL Draft. New York pounced after rookie Jaxson Dart went down with a Week 3 concussion, while Minnesota had already reset its depth chart around Kyler Murray at QB1. Critics call the return a receipt for a bust: nobody trades a top-10 pick they still believe in for a Day 3 selection. Defenders argue McCarthy barely saw the field due to injuries and Minnesota extracted the only realistic price the market offered, making it a clean salvage rather than a surrender. Either way, the fifth-round asking price is the number fans will remember.