When the Minnesota Vikings selected Michigan Wolverines star quarterback J.J. McCarthy with the No. 10 overall pick in the NFL Draft, most fans hoped and expected that he would compete for the starting quarterback role this season. But it doesn’t sound like that’s going to happen.
During a recent appearance on the Ross Tucker Podcast, NFL insider Greg Cosell had an exceptionally brutal report on J.J. McCarthy as he made it clear that McCarthy simply is not ready to
“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 also indicated that while the Vikings clearly saw something in him to take McCarthy with the No. 10 overall pick in the draft, there were teams who rated him much, much lower.
“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.
As a result, Cosell seems to think that Sam Darnold will be the team’s starting quarterback this season.
“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.
