We asked the fans why Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy hasn’t worked out. Here’s what they said and if it’s truth or myth
Going into his third season, things haven’t worked for quarterback J.J. McCarthy, and there are a lot of reasons why.
The hope was that quarterback J.J. McCarthy would be the franchise quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings when they selected him at 10th overall. Going into his third season, that hasn’t come to fruition, and it took a turn once the Vikings named Kyler Murray the starting quarterback on August 11th.
After that, McCarthy played poorly in back-to-back preseason games, and it’s raised a lot of questions about his future with the Vikings. It’s not just about the future, either. Many discussions have come out about what ended up happening with McCarthy.
There are a lot of different theories about what happened, so I asked the fanbase what they thought. It ended up driving over 200 responses from a very passionate fanbase, so lets talk about it.
J.J. McCarthy’s health
Simply put, consistently being injured has been an issue for McCarthy. He suffered a torn meniscus in his first preseason game, costing him a total of 20 games the rest of the season. Then, in his first year starting, McCarthy missed seven games due to a high-ankle sprain, concussion, and broken hand.
It’s a tough one for McCarthy, as injuries can only be somewhat controlled. You would think that McCarthy would have used the year away from the field to his advantage, but he didn’t appear to have absorbed enough. His processing never truly improved from his college days, and it led to reports questioning his day-to-day process.
For me, I thought that McCarthy brought two of the injuries himself, with both the high-ankle sprain and concussion stemming from him not getting out of bounds. The best ability is availability, and he hasn’t had it.
He wasn’t a scheme fit
This is arguably the weirdest one when talking about McCarthy. After he struggled in his first six starts, head coach Kevin O’Connell stripped the playbook down, including reportedly taking away the majority of anticipatory throws over the middle of the field.
The lack of success had led many to believe that McCarthy wasn’t a scheme fit. That’s so far from the case. Leading up to the NFL Draft, McCarthy was viewed as a great scheme fit.
Here’s ESPN’s Matt Bowen highlighting the fit.
“The Vikings can set up McCarthy as a distributor in Kevin O’Connell’s defined passing game, using play-action concepts to put him in a position to throw with better timing and rhythm. McCarthy completed 76.3% of his play-action passes last season, putting up a Total QBR of 90.4. Those are outstanding numbers, and the fit works perfectly in Minnesota.
“Plus, McCarthy has the second-reaction skills as a passer to make plays outside of structure when necessary. He can use his legs to create throwing windows. The Vikings added veteran Sam Darnold in free agency, but McCarthy could be their long-term starter.”
CBS Sports’ Jordan Daijani agreed.
“The Vikings are in the market for a quarterback after Cousins signed with Atlanta. Minnesota did add Sam Darnold, but also made a trade with the Houston Texans to acquire a second first-round pick. Perhaps some ammunition to strike another trade up the board for a signal-caller?
“The Vikings are an attractive landing spot for a young quarterback. You get to play indoors with the offensive-minded former quarterback Kevin O’Connell crafting his game plan toward you. Plus, you get Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson to throw the ball to. It’s a favorable situation for an efficient quarterback.”
I also agreed about that in my scouting report. He needed more experience working within the context of structure in an offense like O’Connell runs, but he chose to enter the NFL Draft instead.
The skill set McCarthy has is perfect for what O’Connell wants to run, but it just hasn’t worked.
The Vikings failed him
To me, this is something that I just can’t get on board with. Now, did they handle McCarthy in the most ideal way possible? That is up to interpretation.
If you want to talk about the coaching staff, there are too many variables to truly know how things took a turn. The biggest area of criticism will be how much the Vikings worked with McCarthy on his mechanics during the season last year. That is a fair element to critique. Even so, McCarthy is the first quarterback where O’Connell wasn’t able to elevate him. We don’t know
On the other hand, some have criticized the Vikings for not putting enough around McCarthy. That is the most absurd take of them all. He had a solid offensive line, elite weapons, and a great play caller. At a certain point, when the surroundings are great, it leads back to the quarterback.
He’s not good at football
This is the likely answer. Will he get there? Only time will tell, but right now, he’s not good enough to play in an NFL game. It’s not the arm talent or athleticism with McCarthy; it’s all about his mental processing. He isn’t anywhere close to processing well enough to be an NFL quarterback.
I’m fascinated to see where McCarthy ends up going from here, but right now, he’s not good enough.
