For the third straight season, the Minnesota Vikings will start the season with a different quarterback under center. After tearing the meniscus in his right knee and missing all of his rookie campaign, J.J. McCarthy is back and being gift-wrapped the keys to one of the NFL's most lethal attacks.
The 22-year-old wasn't even a featured focus of his collegiate offense at Michigan that won a national title, often being an overqualified game manager with some wheels.
McCarthy's physical traits and endorsement from Jim Harbaugh helped land him in the first round, but there are growing fears the young signal-caller might not be ready to be the face of a franchise.
On a recent episode of his show "The Herd," Colin Cowherd talked about the conflicting reports out of Minnesota regarding McCarthy's showing in camp.
"J.J. McCarthy threw a pick for a third straight day," Cowherd said. "There's so much mystery here: why does Minnesota keep flirting with other quarterbacks, and there are too many conflicting reports on McCarthy? I feel like sometimes there's a bit of a spin job here. His arm and escape ability are modest; his release wasn't super quick—there's no great trait."
MORE: Colin Cowherd drops awkward rant on J.J. McCarthy
It's astonishing that it's 2025, and the media is still grossly overreacting to June's performance before players even have pads on.
From Shedeur Sanders to McCarthy, these results don't matter.
McCarthy is likely still dealing with learning Kevin O'Connell's scheme, and it took a while for him even to be cleared for activity after an initial setback with his injury.
Was anyone expecting him to emerge as a finished product?
If McCarthy continues to stink it up into August and fails to progress as an NFL passer, then questions can and should be raised.
For now, this is lazy and just filling space in the early summer news cycle.
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