Former Michigan football quarterback J.J. McCarthy lost the quarterback competition to be the Minnesota Vikings starting quarterback seemingly before it even began.
The No. 10 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, suffered a season-ending injury during his first preseason game with the Vikings and things have never gotten back on track.
Sam Darnold started for the Vikings that season. He was spectacular, leading the Vikings to a 14-3 record. Minnesota was bounced in the first round of the playoffs. Instead of extending Darnold, Minnesota let him walk, allowing him to sign with Seattle.
That left the door wide open for McCarthy to be the starting quarterback. However, Minnesota didn't do him any favors, throwing him back out there for the 2025 season with zero experience coming off an injury. McCarthy struggled to stay healthy, and it was clear that he was still recovering.
Players usually take a year to get back to themselves after an injury like that. J.J. McCarthy was thrown into the fire. He did win NFC Player of the Week, and posted a 6-4 record as a starter, but he also had some struggles, which were exacerbated by the Vikings offensive line.
Regardless, Kyler Murray was signed in the offseason. It has been clear from day one, that even though Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell called it a "competition" it really wasn't. On Tuesday, even before the first preseason game, the Vikings named Murray the starter.
The Vikings failed J.J. McCarthy and need to trade him
That's Minnesota's prerogative, but it's clear that the Vikings have no idea what they are doing at the quarterback position. They let a Super Bowl winner walk out the door, and in a way, the franchise set McCarthy up to fail, by playing him too soon before he really got a chance to develop.
McCarthy didn't get a rookie season. He barely got a rookie training camp. He should have been given time to develop, and a real shot to win the job this summer. Now, it's clear that the best path ahead is with a different NFL franchise, maybe one like the Steelers, or Jets, or maybe the Cowboys.
Some team that doesn't have a future starter set in stone should trade for McCarthy. He was 6-4 as a starter last season and accounted for three total touchdowns in four of those 10 starts.
After an ugly performance with under 100 passing yards against the Packers, with Micah Parsons in his lap all day, McCarthy completed over 60 percent of his throws and averaged more than seven yards per attempt in each of his last four starts. which were all wins (4-0). He accounted for seven touchdowns and two interceptions in that stretch.
Nobody is saying that McCarthy doesn't need to perform better. But it's way too early to label him a bust, and the Vikings allowing him to start one season, under the worst possible circumstances, tells you more about the organization than it does about McCarthy.
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