The Minnesota Vikings likely hoped that No. 10 overall pick J.J. McCarthy would be able to take over as the team’s starting quarterback after the departure of Kirk Cousins. But based on a particularly terrible report from an NFL insider, it doesn’t sound like that’s going to happen.
During a recent appearance on the Ross Tucker Podcast, NFL insider Greg Cosell offered a particularly scathing assessment of McCarthy’s performance during practice, suggesting that he has a lot to work on before he is ready to start for the team.
“He’s got a lot of work to do with his mechanics. He sort of had to work on his drop, his set,” Cosell said. “There’s a lot to work on fundamentally and mechanically. He’s a guy that actually has a strong arm but doesn’t play as if he has a strong arm because there’s so many issues that have to be cleaned up. I think that Kevin O’Connell is really good at this kind of stuff and they’re working with him on that.
“Everything always looks good when you’re not playing in games and there’s no pash rush there and the pocket gets squeezed,” Cosell continued “But he has a lot to work on so he can play to what his traits are. He worked very hard to throw the ball when he was at Michigan, and there’s issues that really need to be cleaned up.”
“He’s got a lot of work to do…”@GregCosell explains why he doesn’t think JJ McCarthy is ready to start for the Vikings: https://t.co/QSrqxlaXZS pic.twitter.com/66ZjtVjFiu
— Ross Tucker Podcast (@RossTuckerPod) June 20, 2024
Cosell even suggested that some teams didn’t even grade McCarthy as a first or second round quarterback.
“I can tell you right now, there are a lot of people who gave him a third-round grade. So I can tell you that for a fact,” Cosell said.
Needless to say, this led to a lot of reactions on social media from the NFL world.
I still don't understand why teams loved JJ McCarthy so much. https://t.co/J4CrnffYif
— Tony Sommer (@Tony_Sommer) June 21, 2024
AJ McCarron trajectory.
— Robert (@Robert__215) June 20, 2024
Yikes, not good. Vikes panicked
— Jay Euler (@Jay_Euler32) June 20, 2024
Any starting QB in the NFL should be able to throw a strike opening up a MLB game with some heat on it…
All the great QBs have nice Baseball backgrounds
— Third Eye Football (@FootballThird) June 20, 2024
Under 3100 passing yards was the easiest click ever. https://t.co/NqX0YiUDyu
— Gumpfather (@Gump_bros) June 20, 2024
Makes sense https://t.co/79KbdDL7C8
— Kal (@StormyLab12) June 20, 2024
Needless to say, Cosell seems to think that Sam Darnold will get the start over McCarthy.
“I would be very, very surprised if Darnold is not the starter,” Cosell said. “I think they know that McCarthy is not ready. And I think everybody I talk to knows McCarthy is not ready. And I think their team’s good enough … I don’t believe they’re going to be one of those teams that starts out 1-6 and everyone is clamoring for the rookie. I think they’re a good enough team that they’re not going to be in that situation.
“And I’d be very, very surprised if Darnold was not the starting quarterback.”
It sounds like McCarthy has a long way to go before he’s the quarterback that the Vikings hoped he could be.
