The Athletic: What's next for JJ McCarthy?

[MaroonBells]

I dont want to pile on a 23 year old kid AND I hope he stays on the rails and can become our QBOTF...I also think he dug himself a bit of a hole to climb out of. 

I believe one of JJ's super-powers failed him last year. And that failure links directly back to what does face of a franchise mean? 

More succinctly, I think he demonstrated lack of emotional maturity and that hurt him in the locker room. 

Just a wild asz theory, but I watched carefully when he was coming back to the sidelines those last 4 games and I didnt see the same kind of fire, player engagement I saw earlier in the year. He looked more isolated. 

I dont think taking himself out of GB game helped his cause on that front??? Maybe? Maybe not? 

Then we have the "insiders" saying how he was doing and saying things in between series with the coach that were never broached during the week? Thats a big no, no. 

Again, just my take...But I really feel like he fell short on maturity and it cost him some tbd amount leadership points internally with coaches and players.

That's another thing. Now....we don't really know what happened there or even that it was met with disapproval by anyone on the Vikings, but it sure was weird.

[StickierBuns]

oy...

lol, seriously. Unless a manure spreader jack-knives on the Santa Anna, hitting the bus carrying all of the Viking's offensive linemen, it cant get worse.

[supafreak84]

You're jumping to a lot of conclusions here. JJ's injuries likely had a lot more to do with his lack of development than some bizarre notion that he was forced to "sit in the corner," no matter how, um, "widely reported" that was. Just like the initial assumptions you and others made about Murray being benched for Brissett, we didn't know what happened there or why. 

Let's not forget one thing that concerned me and some others that year: JJ lost 25-30 lbs, going from 219 to the "high 180s" according to one report. That's insane. When he showed up on the sidelines in street clothes after the surgery looking more like pre-Super Soldier Serum Steve Rogers than Capt. America, it was alarming. None of us knows why that happened. Some speculated that it was prescribed, which is ridiculous IMO. Some say it was due to missing lower body workouts. Lizzo notwithstanding, not many people have 30 lbs in their butt and thighs to gain or lose. 

I think eventually we will find out, and it wouldn't surprise me if whatever caused that weight loss is what caused KOC to warn KAM that he was not ready (assuming that's even true), and maybe even why some insiders were concerned that he was "challenged...by some of the more elemental aspects of being the face of a franchise." 

Many assume being the face of a franchise is just about being good in front of the camera or avoiding late nights on 1st Ave. It's also about doing what is necessary to improve, including keeping your mind and body sharp.

I agree the injuries absolutely played a key factor in the lack of development, but did it help that he was getting the absolute minimum from OConnell and the coaching staff as he was recovering from the knee injury (widely reported)? Or that he did not take a snap for the entirety of the preseason and was thrown out there to open the season at Chicago after essentially not playing football for two years? We can speculate about a lot, but what's not open to speculation is that OConnell and the coaching staff did McCarthy no favors in preparing him for the season or putting him in the best positions to be successful. They did him no favors in refusing to tweak the "chuck and duck" or even incorporate a semblance of running game until December. Now McCarthy is essentially being thrown out after 10 games in favor of another one year rental (maybe) whike OConnell scrambles to save his job and there's a good chance McCarthy is on another team before we even know if he can be a good player or not. That's the infuriating part. How long have we been on the short term rental bus at quarterback during the Wilf tenure? We all want to know if JJ can play and be the long term starter for this organization. It doesn't look like we'll get that opportunity now unless Murray is injured. I'd far rather know that answer than find out if OConnell can piece together another competitive season with another vet quarterback on a short term contract.

[MaroonBells]

You are also jumping to a lot of conclusions here, Maroon.  :-)

Also, regardless of why Murray was benched for Brissett, the Cardinals ate a shitload of money to get rid of him.  THAT is telling in some aspects.  He might turn his fortunes around here because we have a better coaching staff, surround, etc. but it's not the guarantee that some of you are making it out to be.

I just hope if the organization has decided to move on from JJ McCarthy, it works out for us.  I don't agree with that, but I'm not the one coaching the team and don't see him on the regular.  Just seems odd that KOC would be so convicted after his rookie training camp that he was the franchise QB for us and then a season later, it's a lot of the things I liked about him his rookie year are still true...  but...

Who's making guarantees? There are no guarantees in anything. Whether you’re talking about stocks, bonds or football players, you’re just playing the odds. Like I’ve said before, it will be a challenge for KOC to match QB to scheme. It will also be a challenge to keep him healthy. But I also know that Kyler, Jefferson, Addison and Hockenson could throw away the playbook and play sandlot football for 60 minutes and win a lot of games. We signed a 28yr old former #1 overall  2X Pro Bowl QB  for the price of a longsnapper…and some Viking fans are…LIVID?!

I don’t think many Viking fans have thought this through. A few in the media have started to piece it together though….

[purplefaithful]

Look, McCarthy and injuries created this situation. He had a chance last year to absolutely nail down the position and didnt/couldn't. 

Thats the bottom line, he didnt do it yet. Not even enough promise to calm the worries at Eagan. It was so bad that it made thing worse...

Hell, if the Vikings didnt sign Murray? For no money??! No locking in for 2-3 years and $100mm+ of salary?

Now that would have been criminal. 

I just cant wait to just watch it all unfold already...Bring on the draft!

[medaille]

I’d absolutely bet $100 on him being the starter in 2027. There are only 2 scenarios I see that can prevent that. 1.. he sucks and 2.. Catastrophic injury

As much as I dislike this move, I’d be lying to myself if I thought he was going to completely suck. If he does remain relatively healthy I think you’re going to see a QB that the Vikings will have to re-sign to avoid another potential Darnold scenario. 

I think this $1.5 million dollar contract thing is creating misconceptions about the Vikings intentions here. I STILL think the Vikings would have moved to sign Kyler even if the Cards weren’t picking up the tab this year. It just would have been a 3yr/$100 mil kinda deal. Whether you choose to see it now or not, the Vikings have moved onto Kyler Murray for, at least the next 3-4 years.

How many games do you think KM would need to miss before you switch from a yes in 2027 to a no in 2027?

For me, I think there’s a lot of reasons the team wouldn’t bring KM back in 2027:
• 3 missed games or less is probably ok.  4 games is a no go.
• If he ends the season injured and you miss the playoffs or JJM is in the playoffs, I think it’s a no go.
• If he’s injured at all and JJM plays competently, I think it’s a no go.
• If he shits the bed like Darnold did in the playoffs.
• If he’s mid and asking too much money.
• If we ask him to run the wrong offense and he fails to run KOC's offense the way he wants.

I think there’s a very high likelihood that we’re going to end up in a scenario where some other team is offering him a 3-4 year deal and we’re offering him a 1-2 year deal and we just can’t commit the guaranteed money over multiple years because of his injury history or other reasons.

If there’s one thing we know about KOC, it’s how much he thinks he can fix the next guy, and discard the one that failed to live up to his expectations ?

[JR44]

I dont want to pile on a 23 year old kid AND I hope he stays on the rails and can become our QBOTF...I also think he dug himself a bit of a hole to climb out of. 

I believe one of JJ's super-powers failed him last year. And that failure links directly back to what does face of a franchise mean? 

More succinctly, I think he demonstrated lack of emotional maturity and that hurt him in the locker room. 

Just a wild asz theory, but I watched carefully when he was coming back to the sidelines those last 4 games and I didnt see the same kind of fire, player engagement I saw earlier in the year. He looked more isolated. Or maybe my old memory is just failing me lol! 

I dont think taking himself out of GB game helped his cause on that front??? Maybe? Maybe not? 

The whole 9 crap got overblown, but I dont think it helped his cause and it was just weird and kinda embarrassing imo.

Then we have the "insiders" saying how he was doing and saying things in between series with the coach that were never broached during the week? Thats a big no, no. 

Again, just my take...But I really feel like he fell short on maturity and it cost him some tbd amount leadership points internally with coaches and players.

I think there are a lot of great points here and a lot of things that have not been touched on.  I do think it goes a lot deeper than just his performance on the field.  Whenever KOC talked about him last year throughout the season, I just felt there was a lot of animosity there and it just felt like there were things beyond the games that he did not like about him.  

I think you have a valid point about the last 4 games, I had also noticed that it didn't seem like that same passion with the rest of the team, earlier in the year, I had wondered if that would grow old on the pro level especially if you are not delivering.  

If it were not Murray, I think they still would have looked for someone else who they thought could have come in and started.