The Minnesota Vikings knew they were running out of time. Kirk Cousins was aging and had proven unable to get them over the hump to a Super Bowl. So they decided to hit the reset button in the 2024 draft, selecting Michigan quarterback JJ McCarthy as his heir apparent. It made sense. The guy just led the Wolverines to their first national championship in almost 30 years. He was renowned for his leadership and calm under pressure. If anybody had the mental fortitude to get this team to the mountaintop, it was him.
Then a knee injury ended his rookie season before it began. Luckily for the Vikings, they got an unexpected breakout year from Sam Darnold, enabling them to make the playoffs. However, he left in free agency to join Seattle. McCarthy is the unquestioned starter now. Based on recent updates from Minneapolis, it hasn’t been going well. Comments from star receiver Justin Jefferson raised plenty of red flags.
“You definitely have to have patience,” Jefferson said. “He’s pretty much a rookie. Last year pretty much doesn’t count for him. He’s still new to the scheme, new to coming out here and throwing to these different receivers. So you have to have that patience.
“You’re not really expected to have that same mindset as a veteran. You can’t really have that expectation from him. But we do have the expectation of him being great, coming out here every single day, working his butt off and progressing every single day.”
Head coach Kevin O’Connell didn’t help matters, according to ESPN.
At one point during a meeting with reporters Friday, O’Connell felt compelled to look up and say: “The sky has not fallen, so it’s all good.”
The excuses for JJ McCarthy don’t really add up.
Calling him a rookie this season isn’t entirely true. Patrick Mahomes played one game in his first season with Kansas City. The next year, he threw 50 touchdowns. Tom Brady won a Super Bowl in his “rookie” season of his second year with New England. This idea that JJ McCarthy isn’t ready yet should set off alarm bells. Draft experts always had misgivings about the Michigan quarterback. They felt he was slow on progressions during his time in college, and made matters worse with modest arm strength. The run-first offense he played in covered those problems up. O’Connell has generally deployed a pass-heavy attack in Minnesota, which means McCarthy will have to throw a lot more. It sounds like people are nervous about such a plan already.
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