Vikings Take J.J. McCarthy Over Jayden Daniels in New 2024 Mock Draft

Do you take the national title winner or the Heisman winner?

Theoretically, that's a question the Vikings could face during this year's draft, which is less than four weeks away. In a recent mock from Nate Tice and Charles McDonald of Yahoo! Sports, the Vikings trade up to the No. 3 pick and have both Jayden Daniels and J.J. McCarthy available to them. Daniels is viewed by media consensus as the better prospect, but in this mock, the Vikings take McCarthy.

The first big trade of the draft, with the Vikings moving up to secure their guy for the future. McCarthy is a bit of a Rorschach test, but he’s viewed highly by teams and the Vikings have a huge need after losing Kirk Cousins to the Falcons. McCarthy would be walking into a great situation for him to actualize his talent, but he still has a long way to go.
Charles McDonald, Yahoo! Sports

This would be a fascinating decision for Minnesota if things played out this way. Here, Drake Maye goes No. 2 to the Commanders, despite many believing Daniels is ticketed for that spot. The Vikings then trade a haul — 11, 23, and a future first — to the Patriots to go get their guy. But it isn't Daniels, the reigning Heisman winner and electrifying dual threat. It's McCarthy, the polarizing Michigan product who might just be a better fit for Kevin O'Connell's offense.

The deal works out well for the Patriots, who get Daniels at 11 and one of his top LSU wide receivers (Brian Thomas Jr.) at 23, while also adding a future first.

Daniels' elite rushing ability and stellar deep accuracy give him tremendous upside. But like all prospects, he's also not without risk. He's already 23 years old, he subjected himself to too many big hits at LSU, and his short-area accuracy can sometimes wane. The case for McCarthy is that despite having lower passing volume in Michigan's run-heavy offense, he's a good athlete with big-time arm talent and a history of impressive production on third downs. The NFL seems to be higher on McCarthy than most people would think, with some buzz that he could even be considered by the Commanders at No. 2 overall. In addition to the physical tools, he's got all of the intangibles you want out of a quarterback.

Taking McCarthy over Daniels would be a controversial move, especially if Daniels somehow fell all the way to the Vikings' original pick like he does in this mock. But it wouldn't actually be shocking if that's the decision O'Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah make in that scenario.

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