The Athletic: What's next for JJ McCarthy?

[purplefaithful]

Hype, coachspeak, and whatever else notwithstanding...

...JJM's job this offseason is to show growth, across the board. He needs to get bigger/stronger/tougher, he needs to push his passing fundamentals to new levels, he needs to work on his "touch" so he can rely less on his "piss missiles", and he needs to study the playbook until it's written into his DNA.

He needs every moment he can schedule with JJ, with Addison, with Hock and even Jones. He's got to bring the latest, most upgraded version of himself to camp possible.

None of this is caused by Murray's addition, it all needed to happen anyway...but, the need to answer the challenges certainly gained volume.

Step up, kid. A whole lot of us would love to see you be THE GUY for many years to come.

^^^
BINGO!

The criteria for success of McCarthy (for now) is show improvement and mind your business...

I dont think its fair to expect him a 2nd year player with 10 games under his belt (actually 9.5 as he pulled himself out of GB) to beat out a 7 year vet who's thrown 121 td's over his career.

[CFIAvike]

IMO, none of this conjecture matters. JJ’s future is not with us. If it was, we’d be seeing what his progression this year looks like on the field. If the team TRULY believed in his development, there would be no question he’d be the starter this year. They don’t…it’s absolutely not debatable. This pie in the sky, “going back to the bench for the year is best for him” bullshit is frankly stupid. The Vikings do….not….believe….in….JJ.

I’m not even pissed about us punting on JJ the player…I’m pissed that the Vikings and a majority of the fanbase proved, without a shadow of a doubt, that it can’t handle drafting and developing a young QB. It took one year for the team to toss all those plans into the fire and go back to the free agent QB well.

And I’m TIRED of hearing that we’re only paying Kyler $1.5 million and that’s why we signed him. Come on…. If the Cards weren’t paying him this year he was likely a “3yr/100 mil level QB” and everyone knows it. That’s likely 90% of the reason we didn’t sign him long term, as it would have offset that language. Hasn’t anyone put together that the reason we’re not spending money this year and are seemingly clearing cap space next year is to be able to sign Kyler long term? The only question of how much we pay him is dependent on how well he plays.

Everything your eyes can see is that the Vikings are done with JJ McCarthy and likely developing a drafted QB. Barring injury, JJ never starts another game for the Minnesota Vikings.

[purplefaithful]

This pie in the sky, “going back to the bench for the year is best for him” bullshit is frankly stupid. 
Who are you quoting from the Vikings on that? I do agree that he needs reps more than holding a clip-board at this time.

The Vikings do….not….believe….in….JJ.
Conjecture...

Majority of the fanbase proved, without a shadow of a doubt, that it can’t handle drafting and developing a young QB.
100% agree!
Hell, I'm guilty of the very same thing. I'll give myself some grace being out of practice.
But still hoping he's qbotf. 

Hasn’t anyone put together that the reason we’re not spending money this year and are seemingly clearing cap space next year is to be able to sign Kyler long term? The only question of how much we pay him is dependent on how well he plays.
Thats an interesting theory
Not sure I would have connected those dots this early myself. But interesting take! 

IMHO there are reasons (really strong reasons) to not just turn over the reigns to JJM yet. At least without seeing lots more growth from him. How he does in OTA and TC will be interesting to follow, hoping for the best. 

But yah, I dont expect him to beat out a 7 year vet who's thrown over 100 td's. 

[CFIAvike]

IMHO there are reasons (really strong reasons) to not just turn over the reigns to JJM yet. At least without seeing lots more growth from him. How he does in OTA and TC will be interesting to follow, hoping for the best. 

But yah, I dont expect him to beat out a 7 year vet who's thrown over 100 td's. 

The “better off back to bench comment” is just a widely spread narrative I’ve seen from lots of Vikings fans. 


I also don’t believe it’s just conjecture about them not believing in JJ. I feel like they’ve proven it by what’s come out about him from multiple “unnamed sources” within the organization. It’s also not THAT they signed another QB for the “QB room”…it’s who.  They’re SPRINTED to Kyler Murray to sign him. Not an older vet to mentor/push/be a possible starter. They went and got a 28 year old former #1 overall pick looking to revive his career. This is almost EXACTLY the Jones/Richardson scenario in Indy except Murray is likely more talented. 

This team is gonna say whatever they want, but actions speak louder than words. And literally not ONE action this offseason is showing ANY belief in JJ McCarthy

[purplefaithful]

Well, I still hold out hope that JJM is the future for this franchise.

I also dont think JJM was ready to start last year and the more I hear/read coming out post season, I dont blame the Vikings for not leading with him in 26.

Just too much at stake (for coaches & players) and too many unknowns have surfaced to just hand him the reigns imo.

[MAD GAINZ]

How does the rest of the league know JJ McCarthy struggles with the elemental aspects of being the face of the franchise? And what does that even mean?

[supafreak84]

How does the rest of the league know JJ McCarthy struggles with the elemental aspects of being the face of the franchise?  And what does that even mean?

It's all bullshit. McCarthy has been a winner the entirety of his football career, won the National Championship at Michigan under Harbaugh, but once he gets to Minnesota all of a sudden "can't handle the spotlight?" That doesn't pass the sniff test at all. Plus Jefferson is clearly the "face of the franchise" and McCarthy was never asked to be. 

The reality is this is a young kid who suffered a significant knee injury that completely derailed a crucial rookie season. It's been widely reported that OConnell and the coaching staff essentially just let him "sit in the corner" as an afterthought during his recovery and did the minimum with him as far as prepping him on a complex offensive systen. There were a lot of terrible quarterback decisions made by OConnell and the decision to not play McCarthy at all in the preseason was one of the worst. McCarthy goes into the 2025 season ill-prepared after sitting out an entire rookie season and not playing any meaningful snaps of football. He spends the entirety of the year bouncing between injury and trying to play catch up in a difficult scheme that did him no favors. 

I'm just tired of people/pundits shitting on McCarthy when OConnell's mishandling of the entire quarterback room was really the story. I'll tell you one thing, this organization should never again trust "the whisperer" in the development of young quarterback.  "Organizations fail young quarterbacks before young quarterbacks fail organizations" huh, Kevin? Well let me tell you, you just screwed the first young quarterback that was ever left in your care to develope in epic fashion.

[IceRatz16]

How does the rest of the league know JJ McCarthy struggles with the elemental aspects of being the face of the franchise?  And what does that even mean?

I am actually starting to get pissed off at some of our Vikings fans for spewing this crap.  How the hell do they know?  If you have inside sources, prove it.


There is simply no way that McCarthy struggles with "being the face of the franchise".

---

It's all bullshit. McCarthy has been a winner the entirety of his football career, won the National Championship at Michigan under Harbaugh, but once he gets to Minnesota all of a sudden "can't handle the spotlight?" That doesn't pass the sniff test at all. Plus Jefferson is clearly the "face of the franchise" and McCarthy was never asked to be. 

The reality is this is a young kid who suffered a significant knee injury that completely derailed a crucial rookie season. It's been widely reported that OConnell and the coaching staff essentially just let him "sit in the corner" as an afterthought during his recovery and did the minimum with him as far as prepping him on a complex offensive systen. There were a lot of terrible quarterback decisions made by OConnell and the decision to not play McCarthy at all in the preseason was one of the worst. McCarthy goes into the 2025 season ill-prepared after sitting out an entire rookie season and not playing any meaningful snaps of football. He spends the entirety of the year bouncing between injury and trying to play catch up in a difficult scheme that did him no favors. 

I'm just tired of people/pundits shitting on McCarthy when OConnell's mishandling of the entire quarterback room was really the story. I'll tell you one thing, this organization should never again trust "the whisperer" in the development of young quarterback.  "Organizations fail young quarterbacks before young quarterbacks fail organizations" huh, Kevin? Well let me tell you, you just screwed the first young quarterback that was ever left in your care to develope in epic fashion.

I hadn't read your post until after I posted, but I agree with most everything here and it's ticking me off.  While the jury is still out for me on whether KO can develop a young QB, I do know he misunderstood what McCarthy needed after 600+ days off of competitive football.

[supafreak84]

I hadn't read your post until after I posted, but I agree with most everything here and it's ticking me off.  While the jury is still out for me on whether KO can develop a young QB, I do know he misunderstood what McCarthy needed after 600+ days off of competitive football.

O'Connell couldn't have screwed up the development of McCarthy more if he tried, yet he somehow gets a free pass in the media, retains the farce "quarterback whisperer" title, and has been given even MORE power within the organization even though he's won nothing! The people who think OConnell is still some kind of offensive savant are the same dolts who thought Kwesi was a great hire and knew what he was doing. Namely the Wilfs, media, and the Kool-Aid drinkers within the fanbase.

[medaille]

The best thing for JJM is to get reps. The second best thing is to stay healthy and keep growing.

It is what it is though. We got to win games, They're not going to force feed him games just for development.