When the 2024 NFL Draft rolled around, several teams sought a quarterback in a class chock full of them. Six QBs went off the board in the first round, and all of them are currently starting for their respective teams.
The team that was considered one of the best landing spots for a young quarterback? The Minnesota Vikings, who traded up into the top 10 to select J.J. McCarthy as their future signal caller. They have a head coach who excels at developing QBs, an Offensive Player of the Year and first-team All-Pro at wide receiver, and a defense capable of shutting down the best offenses. On paper, the Vikings set McCarthy up to succeed.
However, we’ve seen McCarthy struggle on the field. He has completed just 53% of his passes this year with a rating of 61.7, the worst in the league in both metrics. McCarthy has played well late in games, including last Sunday, helping the Vikings take the lead in the fourth quarter. However, he ultimately finished 16 for 32 with 150 yards, a touchdown, two interceptions, and the loss. He now has eight picks and only six touchdowns on the season.
It’s too early to label McCarthy a bust. He’s dealt with numerous injuries – including one that sidelined him for his entire rookie year – that have resulted in him only playing five career games. Let’s wait until he gets a healthy offseason and a bigger sample size to pass judgment.
But McCarthy isn’t as far along as the Vikings had hoped. Kevin O’Connell said as much on Tuesday during his weekly X’s and O’s segment, emphasizing McCarthy’s consistency as something the young QB will need to figure out.
“When he gets to the top of his drops, we’re really trying to see if we can get him to be in a more repeatable body position. … The posture of a firm, but athletic lower half,” O’Connell said. “We don’t really like when his feet get too far outside the framework of his body, and that happened a couple of times the other day that contributed to some of the accuracy.”
O’Connell laid out McCarthy’s struggles in plain language, and he must address some mechanical issues. That’s not typically something a player can correct in practice during the season, because the team focuses more on the week’s game plan. In all likelihood, he’ll need to clean up his most significant mechanical issues over the offseason, meaning most of McCarthy’s improvement this year will come from getting more in-game reps.
However, the Vikings didn’t prepare for a quarterback developmental year this offseason. They spent the second-most money of any team on free agents, bringing in Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave, Will Fries, Ryan Kelly, and others to contend this year.
There were Super Bowl expectations – or at the very least, a playoff spot – after they won 14 games last year. If McCarthy needs a year or two to adjust to the NFL, their core will be long gone.
Hargrave and Allen’s contracts run through 2026 and 2027, respectively. They’re also in their 30s, and their best years may be behind them. Fellow defensive lineman Jalen Redmond is having a breakout in his second year with the team and may command a larger contract once his deal runs out at the end of this season. The same goes for Jalen Nailor.
These are decisions the Vikings will have to make, and it becomes a lot harder when you don’t know how long your quarterback will need to figure things out. They had some of the most cap space in the league, and they spent it trying to build a perennial contender. McCarthy’s shortcomings have changed that.
Vikings fans are frustrated, and rightfully so. Watching Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones lead their teams to the playoffs, knowing both were in the building last season, is tough to process. The assumption was that they would be able to contend this year with McCarthy at the helm, and that was evident based on what the front office doled out to free agents in the offseason.
The process was right. The Vikings had to prioritize their young quarterback after trading up in the draft for him. That was the only way they could even spend as much as they did. They were hoping McCarthy could be their starting QB and give them consistent play, but it’s clear he needs more time.
Now there’s not much one of the oldest rosters in the NFL can do but wait and hope he develops rapidly as the season comes to an end. Otherwise, the Vikings are trending towards a complete rebuild.
