If the Cleveland Browns don’t like any of the quarterbacks available at No. 2, they could look to trade the pick. Trading the No. 2 pick would be in an effort to find more draft capital or a quarterback they like from a different team. However, due to the Browns’ cap situation, that player would have to be on a cheap deal.

Someone like J.J. McCarthy, who missed his entire rookie season due to a knee injury, could be the solution to that.

While it might require the Browns to trade the No. 2 pick, they could view him as a franchise quarterback and hand him the keys for the next decade.

Matthew Schmidt of Sports Illustrated pitched a trade idea to do just that, moving the pick to the Minnesota Vikings for McCarthy and draft capital.

“Of course, the most straightforward path for the Browns will be selecting a quarterback at that spot, whether it be Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders or Miami’s Cam Ward. But there is another avenue Cleveland could pursue. Trading the pick.  If the Browns field offers for the No. 2 selection, they will obviously generate tremendous interest, and a very intriguing potential trade partner is the Minnesota Vikings… However, Minnesota does have a very interesting asset at its disposal: quarterback J.J. McCarthy…

“Minnesota could trade McCarthy, its first-round pick and some other significant draft capital (possibly including a 2026 first-rounder) to Cleveland in exchange for the No. 2 selection, which would allow the Vikings to select Travis Hunter while supplying the Browns with their quarterback of the future and a ton of assets,” Schmidt wrote on January 5.

It’s uncertain if the Vikings would send the Browns draft capital and McCarthy, but that’d be the perfect scenario for Cleveland.

McCarthy Recently Returned to the Field

In January, the Minnesota Vikings youngster was able to return to on-field training, a step in the right direction as he looks to get healthy.

That’s a good thing for the Cleveland Browns, but it could also be a bad thing. The Vikings have loved what they’ve seen from him, lowering the chances of trading him.

The Browns could entice him with No. 2, but for a Vikings team that went 14-3 and could believe they could plug and play anyone at quarterback, he might not be available.

The latest comments from Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah weren’t exactly in the Browns’ favor, either.

“I was in there, and he was in there doing cool quarterback things. He was in there. Looks great. Excited. You talk about a kid who is obsessed with football and loves being around the game. We’re excited about what we have in him. We’re excited about the offseason. It’s a big offseason. And then we’ll continue from there,” he said, according to Alec Lewis of The Athletic.

McCarthy Returning Helps the Vikings ‘Projected Path;

The Minnesota Vikings selected the Michigan product with the No. 10 pick a year ago. They clearly believe he could be a franchise quarterback, another issue the Cleveland Browns would likely face in trading for him.

According to Lewis, McCarthy returning to the field helps the Vikings get back to where they want to be: with McCarthy playing.

“In the meantime, Minnesota must ask itself how much it wants to spend on the QB position and weigh that decision with its many roster needs elsewhere. None of these have obvious answers, but there is no question that the Vikings drafted McCarthy with the No. 10 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft to be their quarterback of the future. The torn meniscus tossed a wrench in the initial vision, but Thursday’s news was at least a sign that he was veering back toward the projected path,” Lewis wrote.

There are challenges in landing McCarthy, but the No. 2 pick could be enough. If it is, the Browns should love to have him.