Remember him? Consensus #1 player and 5 star QB coming out of high school. One of the highest ratings by 24/7 Composite rankings ever.  Never lost a game as a starter in high school, undefeated. Had a crap rookie year at Notre Dame, played better under new coach Weis his Sophomore year and had a really nice junior year stats-wise. Came out early as Weis left to go the NFL. Drafted by the Panthers in the 2nd round in 2010.

Had a shit rookie year. Really bad. So bad that Carolina took the very next year Cam Newton as the #1 pick overall in 2011. Clausen went from starter to 3rd string as they signed Derek Anderson to QB behind Newton. Didn't throw a pass again until 2014, where he bumped around between Chicago and Baltimore and then out of the NFL after the 2015 season never to return. One of the fastest flame-outs of a QB that I can remember. This kid was beyond great in high school, a true phenomenon. One of those Cali QBs that played against tough competition. He was cocky and that didn't help him. SI.com ran a story on him called 'The Golden Arm' before he started at Notre Dame. 

You just never know....

The Athletic writer observed that the Vikings are now possess a top-to-bottom culture of positive moves.  
Consecutive "masterclasses in FA"?  Love that.
As noted, it starts with the owners, but extends with continuity through the GM and coaching staff. 


Lunchbreak: The Athletic Evaluates Vikings Vision Through Bill Walsh Lens

There are favorable odds of Minnesota benefiting from consecutive masterclasses in free agency.

The signings alone – no less, how brilliant performances from 2024 additions helped the Vikings win 14 games last season and further established a culture of appeal for future targeted players – are a feather in the cap of General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and his staff. That in conjunction with what appears to be a resourceful, and focused, 2025 Draft haul confirmed Minnesota is trending the direction it wants.

Inking Adofo-Mensah to a contract extension Friday was a continuation of what’s long been in motion – Vikings brass is aligned in its goals, determined to reach them and aware of the best processes to do so.

Maybe, that’s not news. But it’s something rare in a league rightfully obsessed with winning.

The Athletic’s Alec Lewis on Thursday introduced insights from former San Francisco 49ers executive and three-time Super Bowl champion coach Bill Walsh to understand, in depth, the vision held by the Vikings.

Citing passages – and lessons – from one of Walsh’s books, “Building a Champion,” co-authored with Glenn Dickey, Lewis gathers Minnesota is navigating well what is really a delicate dance.

That is, a working relationship between coaches and members of the front office that tends to be challenging in nature. Walsh worded it like this: “Each man’s priorities can be diametrically opposed.”

Walsh’s tactics and standards are emulated across football, but they’re not often perfected; his experiences, Lewis detailed, resulted in two conclusions: 1) Teams hoping to sustain winning operate with continuity, and 2) a team’s leadership must be willing to change when something doesn’t work.

Lewis deftly connects the formula prescribed in Walsh’s manual, extolling Minnesota for extending Adofo-Mensah and in turn keeping intact the partnership between him and Head Coach Kevin O’Connell.

In doing so, Vikings ownership demonstrated an obvious commitment to “attaining the elusive trophy.”

As proof that continuity is integral to a thoughtfully constructed championship chase, Lewis asked and answered a series of questions: First, how many clubs have won 60 percent of their games since 2020?

Seven.

Who are they?

The Chiefs, Bills, Packers, Ravens, Eagles, Buccaneers and Steelers.

And what do they share in common?

Six of the seven have the same general manager now that they had in 2020, and the only one that doesn’t (Pittsburgh) made a change when the previous GM retired. Additionally, only the Eagles and Bucs have different head coaches than the ones they began the decade with, and Tampa Bay replaced the former coach with his defensive coordinator.

Kwesi has a high level of self-awareness of what a good situation they have with KOC's QB University / QB Incubator.  
And I'm certain that the Wilf's investment in facilities and staff and advancement of a solid player culture (as voted on by the players), was also done intentionally. 

Q: What were your expectations for McCarthy before the injury last August?

A: It’d be hard for me to talk about that alone because when you have a QB Ph.D or a QB Nobel Laureate in your building, you lean on [O’Connell] often. So, we had constant dialogue and conversation about what we wanted for J.J. that year and he started exceeding them pretty quickly. We were pretty clear, I think, publicly that we didn’t want him to play. We just thought for the kind of better success of his career, it’s better to sit and watch. He kind of pushed. He was pushing a little bit to maybe even becoming the backup or different things like that, but just the day-over-day growth he would show, he was so coachable. ... And you really saw the arm talent and different things like that, the ability to move in the pocket. He was on the come. We were excited about it. ... If people remember, the Raiders played their first-team defense while he was in the [preseason] game. So, we did get a little glimpse of seeing him against regular season NFL-type players. We just loved it. Not only just the play but how he played. He threw the interception as people remember. You talk to the coaches, there was just a positivity and a joy that he played with that he was going to come back and he had that great recovery. Those are moments that matter. Not necessarily that he completed the passes, but he didn’t go in the tank, he came over on the sideline, got his coaching point, took it and went out there and played with his teammates. That was an exciting time for us. What was so amazing about the injury was how he handled it, the maturity with how he handled it. I remember him saying, “Well, this will give Sam [Darnold] just the platform he needs,” and obviously Sam went on to have the year he had.

Q: How much time did you spend looking for comparable situations before deciding to roll with a 22-year-old quarterback taking over a team ready to contend for a Super Bowl?

A: I don’t know that there’s a great comp for this. ... A lot of the bet we made — I talked a lot about J.J. the person, but let me talk a little bit about what’s in this building. I think we have maybe the best QB incubator in the NFL. So, when you put a person in the QB incubator with all that ability and all that mindset, I just feel so confident about what’s going to come out the other end. ... Ultimately in this job, you have to make bets, you have to believe something before other people see it. So that’s a lot of what gives me confidence. I wish there was more of a cleaner comp to give me that extra confidence, but it’s the belief I have in this building and the belief I have in this player.

Interesting...Kwesi and crew knew all along that this would be the year that they would have this cap space and resources available THIS YEAR, and that's how they planned it and allowed it to roll out.  Patience.

Q: No team appears to be spending as much cash on players in 2025. Was that part of the plan and does it inherently put more pressure on this year’s team?

A: This was a part of the plan the whole time, just knowing that we would have these resources, maybe moving on from that first core that we inherited and kind of came to this place here. Pressure — obviously I’m not one of the players on the field — but we brought in a lot of players that wake up every day trying to be the best version of themselves, so when you approach every day that way, I feel you don’t look too far in front of your face.

Incredible comeback win for the Pacers. Man these two teams are well matched. But the heart of the Pacers! Beat OKC on their home court 111-110. The go ahead basket by Tyrese Halliburton (who else?) with 0.3 to go. Great Game.

Just watched the trailer. Wasn’t expecting anything but, holy crap. This might be good. FX.