Have you heard that newly hired Minnesota Vikings quarterbacks coach Josh McCown coached Drake Maye in high school? Of course you have. And since McCown was Sam Darnold‘s backup with the New York Jets in 2018, Skoldiers (and plenty of national pundits) can’t help but connect the dots of the Vikings possibly operating with intentionality to reunite Maye and McCown in Minnesota.
Oddly enough, this is the second-straight offseason where McCown’s presence as quarterbacks coach of a new team would allegedly influence which signal-caller prospect that team would ultimately select in the draft. Shortly after the Carolina Panthers hired McCown in mid-February 2023, the NFL content machine ran wild with C.J. Stroud being Carolina’s presumptive No. 1-overall pick — all because McCown was enamored with him throughout the draft process.
Instead of taking McCown’s draft process darling in Stroud, the Panthers selected Bryce Young with the first pick of the 2023 NFL Draft.
Was McCown right all along about his assessment of Stroud as an NFL quarterback? It certainly looks like it after Stroud tore through the AFC South and won a playoff game during his rookie campaign. So why did the Panthers seemingly go against McCown with their selection of Young? Probably because first-year position coaches have little to no say in which player an NFL organization decides to entrust with the keys to their franchise.
And that’s exactly the position McCown finds himself in with the Vikings in 2024 — a first-year position coach.
Let’s rewind the clock nearly two decades. Coming off a four-year run as USC’s offensive coordinator — which included two national championships and two Heisman Trophy winners with Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart — the Tennessee Titans hired Norm Chow as their OC in 2005. After going 4-12 in Chow’s first season on Jeff Fisher‘s staff, the Titans held the third-overall pick in the 2006 draft. It was only natural that folks everywhere at the time were connecting the dots that Tennesee would take Leinart third overall to reunite him with his former playcaller at USC.
Instead, the Titans selected former Texas Longhorns quarterback Vince Young with the third pick. Leinart went 10th overall to the Arizona Cardinals.
After Tennessee fired Chow following the 2007 season, he went on the radio and essentially said the Titans didn’t listen to him when they selected Young over Leinart.
Everyone knew who I wanted, and… the minute that they took Vince, I told my wife, ‘I think my days are numbered here.’
If Chow didn’t have enough say as the OC amongst Tennessee’s decision-makers, why is McCown’s presence with the Vikings giving folks the impression that Maye is atop Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s and Kevin O’Connell‘s draft boards?
Because McCown coached him in high school?
If the Vikings ultimately land Maye, does it hurt that McCown coached him at Myers Park High School in Charlotte? Of course not. But considering that this upcoming draft presents one of the biggest decisions for the Vikings of the past few decades, forgive me for pushing back on McCown being the reason why Minnesota has made Maye their priority.
To be perfectly clear, Maye could be the priority inside the TCO Performance Center’s walls. He’s a premier prospect with prototypical size, an extremely live arm, and possesses the necessary adlibbing skillset required in today’s NFL. At only 21 years old, there’s good reason to believe that Maye has ample room to grow before hitting his ceiling — even with all of his natural gifts as a passer.
By all accounts, McCown is a rising star in the NFL coaching ranks. And there’s an argument to be made that it’s almost disrespectful to McCown’s standing as a quarterbacks/offensive coach if people are under the impression that the Vikings brought him in to help Darnold and Maye get acclimated in Minnesota. McCown shouldn’t be viewed similarly to the way the football world looks at Nathaniel Hackett and Aaron Rodgers.
Regardless of who the Vikings draft at quarterback, they’ll be in good hands with McCown as their position coach. And it should be widely understood that position coaches don’t sway decisions of this magnitude for NFL franchises.
