Schefter: "Not ready to give up on JJM"
‘Not Ready To Just Give Up on J.J. McCarthy’ — NFL Insider Refuses To Crown Kyler Murray As Vikings’ QB1
Scott Long
J.J. McCarthy has had a tumultuous start to his NFL career. The 10th overall pick in the NFL Draft missed the entirety of his rookie season due to a knee injury, and struggled mightily in year two, causing many to doubt his future as a franchise quarterback.
The Minnesota Vikings brought in two-time Pro Bowler Kyler Murray in the offseason to compete for the starting quarterback job, leading many to believe it’s already Murray’s job and that McCarthy’s days in Minnesota may soon be numbered. However, NFL insider Adam Schefter believes that is not the case and encourages people to pump the brakes before writing off McCarthy.
Adam Schefter Doesn’t Believe that The NFL Has Heard the Last of J.J. McCarthy
“I know everybody is anointing Kyler, I’m not ready to just give up on J.J. McCarthy,” Schefter saidof the Vikings quarterback competition on ESPN’s “Get Up.”
“Kevin O’Connell has said it’s an open competition,” Schefter added. “Everybody expects Kyler to win that job; he probably will. But at some point in time, I think we’re going to hear something from J.J. McCarthy again. That’s just me, we’ll see.”
McCarthy has only played in 10 games through two seasons as the Vikings quarterback and has struggled to the tune of a 57.6% completion percentage, 1,632 passing yards, 11 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions, while taking 27 sacks. He ranked as the No. 34 quarterback in PFN’s Quarterback Impact Metric (QBi).
However, despite all that, he is still only 23 years old, has won at the highest level in college, and has the pedigree that led to his selection in the top 10 of the NFL Draft. Despite struggling in the NFL, he led Minnesota to a 6-4 record in his starts and has shown flashes of athleticism, including 181 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns, that could make him dangerous if he can figure it out as a passer.
Meanwhile, Murray has shown much more at the NFL level, making two Pro Bowls and winning Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2019, but has struggled in his own right over the past two seasons. There are legitimate questions about his leadership, and for a player who relies on his athleticism, his age and injury history raise concerns about whether he can return to the player he once was.
While Schefter acknowledged that Murray should be the favorite given his track record, he believes too many people are writing off McCarthy entirely, which should not be the case.
“He was hurt his first year, he was hurt last year, the team had flaws,” Schefter added. “We’re living in a day and age where we see Daniel Jones bounce back, where we see Baker Mayfield bounce back, where we see Sam Darnold bounce back. And you’re telling me that a guy like Kevin O’Connell is already going to give up?”
Despite poor play from McCarthy and a myriad of other things going wrong for them in 2025, the Minnesota Vikings finished with a 9-8 record, in third place in the ultra-competitive NFC North, where every team had a record over .500. If Minnesota can get competent quarterback play in 2026, they can be a legitimate contender in the NFC.
The quarterback competition between Murray and McCarthy has been a major talking point all offseason. It is expected to be one of the most important storylines throughout training camp and the preseason.
Please God, just one Lombardi before I die.
Then there's always the peanut gallery chiming in to fan the flames:
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/check-down-charlie-nfl-legend-041053987.html
StickierBuns wrote:
Its funny because we are all really tired of this topic as fans.....yet its almost impossible not to talk about when various stories pop up. That's how important and what a lightning rod the QB position is in the NFL. I'd wager we could go through every poster and almost everyone on this board would know exactly how the other feels about it, that's how much its been discussed. You dare to hope that if you draft a QB, maybe you'd have a guy you could rely on for 12+ years like you see other teams do: nope, its never that easy for Viking's fans. JJ might still be that guy, but we'll have to go through hell first as fans. And then he might turn out not to be. Wash, rinse and repeat.
So what do we do as fans? We hope individual seasons turn up rosy. We sign cast offs and hope for the best. Never ends that way ultimately. If only deserves had anything to do with it, lol. Sigh.
True...
And as long as we're re-hashing ---
It's been a long, long time since the team has highly drafted a QB with the intent of starting him for many years. Consequently, we (viking fans) have lost our touch and ability to muster patience while said guy learns to master his craft.
That certainly pertains to me, but I know I'm not alone. Contrast that say to Packer fans who know what it's like to let a guy learn for 2-3 years.
Hindsight is 20/20 but KOC was premature in proclaiming we have our franchise QB. That just blew expectations through the roof.
Add all the injuries to sky high expectations? And you have the fan QB angst we've had since 24.
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
StickierBuns wrote:
Then there's always the peanut gallery chiming in to fan the flames:
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/check-down-charlie-nfl-legend-041053987.html
Yah, Murray hasn't had weapons like this b4. A defense like this b4 (I hope).
We'll see soon enough if his stats evolve and how/if KOC remakes an offense to fit his strengths.
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
Vikesrock wrote:
I didn't miss that point. I am well aware of the 35 million he stuck to Arizona. My point was that the veteran minimum could and would have been offered by numerous teams. He quite literally would have had his pickings of several teams. And next year being a free agency season for him, why would he risk playing in a QB competition that he could lose when he could walk in to the door of 10 other teams week 1 starter? Either he has the worst agent on the planet, or someone promised him something if he came here, there is no other logical conclusion. You can say he wanted to play with JJ, and maybe he did, but what if he loses said competition? Is he risking his next contract by being beat by what some said was the worst QB in the league last year? Come on...
Because he never thought he would lose the competition. And if we're being honest with ourselves, it's not very likely he will.
This is an ultra-confident, former #1 overall pick who played 7 seasons with a team that just wasn't very good on either side of the ball. A team with dysfunctional ownership, the only team in the NFL whose ownership received an F grade in NFLPA report cards, a team that consistently finished last in NFLPA surveys, a team who changes coaches damn near every season. While there, he witnesses QBs like Stafford, Cousins, Darnold have terrific seasons under KOC.
I would imagine that for a player who's been through all that, going to Minnesota with its stable ownership and coaching and its elite surround, would be very appealing. I don't think the Vikings needed any kind of wink and a nod to sell him on the idea of choosing Minnesota over a handful of teams that were really not much different than what he had in Arizona.
"The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it”
MaroonBells wrote:
Because he never thought he would lose the competition. And if we're being honest with ourselves, it's not very likely he will.
This is an ultra-confident, former #1 overall pick who played 7 seasons with a team that just wasn't very good on either side of the ball. A team with dysfunctional ownership, the only team in the NFL whose ownership received an F grade in NFLPA report cards, a team that consistently finished last in NFLPA surveys, a team who changes coaches damn near every season. While there, he witnesses QBs like Stafford, Cousins, Darnold have terrific seasons under KOC.
I would imagine that for a player who's been through all that, going to Minnesota with its stable ownership and coaching and its elite surround, would be very appealing. I don't think the Vikings needed any kind of wink and a nod to sell him on the idea of choosing Minnesota over a handful of teams that were really not much different than what he had in Arizona.
This is pretty much where I’m at. I’m not really convinced there’s a ton of other better options. Is there another Seattle out there that’s loaded and ready to plug a QB in? I also think a lot of the bad bad teams are tanking for 2027. Do they really want Murray pulling them just out of QB territory? It seems like here, he just has to beat a guy who was bad last year and then would be pretty well set up for playing in the best situation to showcase his worth.
Also, I think KOC very well could have said something like, “Hey it’s going to be a competition with JJM, we think he has a lot of potential, but it didn’t really show up on the field last year and I can’t really snuff out his career off 10 games. I can’t promise you the starting job, but I can promise that if you beat JJM, earn the starting job, we have everything here to make you look as good as possible, and we’re going to want a good looking QB for 2027.”
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