When the Minnesota Vikings selected quarterback JJ McCarthy with the 10th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, they had the same plan that most teams taking a quarterback that high have: Start the kid, let him take his lumps, and get better through experience. They weren’t counting on him tearing his ACL as a rookie, and they certainly weren’t expecting Sam Darnold to go 14-3 in his stead.
By the time McCarthy took the reins in 2025, Minnesota was no longer the 7-10 team that drafted him. They were a team with talented players across the board and just needed a quarterback to get them over the finish line. No pressure on a kid with zero NFL snaps. McCarthy played poorly from the jump, as is expected for first-year starters, and rather than let him continue to let him grow, the Vikings have pulled the plug on his career.
This topic was broached on the August 25th Lights Out Sports Podcast, when hosts Cheez and Michael Ballentine were joined by Vikings superfan Mr Knew. The show’s guest advocated for a 2-3-year contract for newly named starter Kyler Murray, and said that McCarthy was unprepared to be a starter in the NFL, and that game reps wouldn’t help him get any better.
JJ McCarthy Didn’t Have The Experience To Be A Starter?
One of the points made by Mr. Knew was that McCarthy only had 6,226 passing yards in college. He just didn’t throw the ball as much as someone like Carson Beck (11,725 yards). While the numbers are technically true (numbers never lie), the story being presented with the numbers is incredibly false. Passing yards in college have little to no value in assessing the readiness of a rookie quarterback to start in the NFL.
After all, passing yards can be skewed by a number of factors. How many years was he a starter? How many poor passing defenses did he play against? What sort of offense did he play in? Hawaii quarterback Timmy Chang threw for 17,072 yards in the FBS, but his career amounted to four seasons in the CFL. If passing yards in college are that important, shouldn’t he have been a top NFL draft pick?
The fact of the matter is that McCarthy in college had better numbers than Cam Newton, Josh Allen, and the guy replacing him, Kyler Murray. College quarterbacks with better numbers include Tim Tebow, Johnny Manziel, and Tim Couch. At the end of the day, first-year starters need to be on the field to get better. McCarthy did what any franchise other than Minnesota could hope for. He started poorly and got better throughout the year.
McCarthy’s numbers as a quasi-rookie compare similarly to those of Allen with the Bills, Trevor Lawrence with the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Cam Ward with the Tennessee Titans. Those players were allowed to be the starter even after poor rookie seasons, and it seems to be working out for their teams.
The Minnesota Vikings Simply Didn’t Want To Show Patience
It boils down to buyer’s remorse, and the person paying for it is the player the Vikings should never have picked in the first place. The front office severely misunderstood their roster, and as a result, a National Championship-winning quarterback may have to spend the rest of his career as a backup. Then he has to hope the starter gets hurt so he can get his moment in the sun.
It’s the same thing Darnold did after the Jets gave up on him and Baker Mayfield did after the Bucs thought he was washed up. Maybe it all works out for McCarthy in the end, and maybe it doesn’t, but it’s clear that people calling the shots in Minnesota have no idea what they are doing.
