Mike Tannenbaum Says Jets Should Trade for J.J. McCarthy amid surprise Aaron Rodgers Rumors

Mike Tannenbaum Says Jets Should Trade for J.J. McCarthy amid surprise Aaron Rodgers Rumors

Former New York Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum suggested Wednesday that the Jets should attempt to acquire Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy in a trade during the offseason.

As part of a New Year’s resolutions segment on ESPN’s Get Up, Tannenbaum said the following about the Jets’ quarterback situation and how they could potentially fix it:

“In 2009 Rex Ryan came in, he inherited a former Green Bay Packer legend and he moved on from Brett Favre. … In 2025, move on from Aaron Rodgers. Go get J.J. McCarthy. … He would’ve been the first player picked in this year’s draft and with six of the top 10 teams needing a quarterback, go out and get your quarterback of the future, J.J. McCarthy.”

Minnesota selected McCarthy with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, but a torn meniscus cost him his entire rookie season, which paved the way for Sam Darnold to start and lead the Vikings to one of the NFL’s best records through 17 weeks at 14-2.

In hopes of ending their lengthy playoff drought, the Jets acquired quarterback Aaron Rodgers in a trade with the Green Bay Packers prior to the 2023 season.

Although he was nearly 40 years old at the time, the Jets were banking on getting one or two more good years out of the four-time NFL MVP and one-time Super Bowl champion.

Instead, Rodgers’ suffered a torn Achilles on the Jets’ first offensive drive of the 2023 regular season, causing him to miss the rest of the year.

He returned in time for the start of the 2024 season, and although his numbers of 3,623 passing yards, 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions aren’t horrible, they have not led to overall team success.

At 4-12 entering Week 18, the Jets have clinched their ninth consecutive losing season and their 14th straight year without a playoff berth, which is the longest active streak in the NFL.

The Jets also fired head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas along the way, meaning they will look to fill those two important positions in the coming weeks.

As far back as November, SNY’s Connor Hughes reported that the organization “prefers to move on from” Rodgers at the end of the 2024 season as well.

Rodgers has one year remaining on his contract, so the Jets would either have to cut him and incur some dead cap or find a trading partner, which could prove difficult. Rodgers could retire and make it easier on the Jets, but it is unclear if he is willing to walk away from football at the age of 41.

As for McCarthy, he led the University of Michigan to an undefeated record and a national championship last season, and the Vikings drafted him in hopes that he could be the new franchise quarterback after the departure of Kirk Cousins in free agency.

Instead, Darnold took the starting job after McCarthy got injured and has enjoyed the best year of his career by far, completing 68.1 percent of his passes for 4,153 yards, 35 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

Darnold only signed a one-year deal with the Vikes, so the 27-year-old is set to cash in big time in free agency.

If Darnold signs elsewhere, it would allow the Vikings to transition to McCarthy, but if the Vikings re-sign Darnold, it would call McCarthy’s future with the organization into question.

Minnesota could always keep both quarterbacks and allow McCarthy to sit and learn behind Darnold for multiple years, much like Rodgers did behind Brett Favre in Green Bay, but the situations are different.

Darnold is much younger than Favre was at the time, and if the Vikings re-sign him, they will likely be making a long-term monetary investment in him as the starter.

That could open the door for a trade involving McCarthy, which would allow the Vikings to pick up some draft capital to be used to improve other areas, and the Jets would be a logical landing spot for McCarthy in that scenario