Ex-NFL lineman Ross Tucker has carved out a solid second career as a columnist and sportscaster, but one of his latest “hot takes” could use some cold water therapy.
Tucker was recently a guest on the Purple Daily Podcast, where he dropped an opinion on Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy that isn’t exactly based in any form of reality.
The take? In case you missed it, Tucker believes Minnesota’s attempts to retain both Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones in free agency this offseason signals “doubt” in the team’s confidence in McCarthy as the starting quarterback this year.
“J.J. McCarthy… this will essentially be his rookie season,” Tucker said. “He missed so much practice time. It would be unusual if he didn’t have some serious growing pains. And I’ll say this, too, guys — no matter what the Vikings say about J.J. McCarthy, and how much they love him and he’s the guy, they wanted Darnold back. And then, when they weren’t going to get Darnold back, they wanted Daniel Jones back, right? And they were offering these guys pretty darn good money.
“So as much as they’re ‘sold’ on J.J. McCarthy, they weren’t, like, that sold, right? I mean, they were offering these guys over $10 million bucks a year to come and be their quarterback for this year, or at least give them that option. So they have some doubt there about McCarthy and how ready he’ll be, especially early.”
Unfortunately, the Purple Daily guys offered no push-back on Tucker’s rant, which came completely out of left field as he picked Minnesota to battle with Chicago for third or fourth in the NFC North this year.
If we were grading Tucker’s opinion on McCarthy, it would be an F for false information.
While Minnesota discussed contracts with both Darnold and Jones this offseason, the idea that pairing one of them with McCarthy for 2025 signals doubt from team leadership is completely baseless. McCarthy was coming off a torn meniscus, so it made sense to try and bring one of those guys back at the right price, based on their experience in Kevin O’Connell’s system from the year prior.
Darnold got over $100 million on a multi-year deal from the Seahawks, but Minnesota easily could have re-signed him if he was in the team’s future plans (he wasn’t, though). Jones got $14 million from the Colts, which was clearly outside of the Vikings’ preferred raange for a potential backup QB.
Minnesota could have ponied up cash for any number of big-name quarterbacks this offseason — Aaron Rodgers, Joe Flacco, etc — if they were worried about McCarthy's de facto rookie season. Instead, they waited until the weekend of the draft to trade for Sam Howell and his dirt cheap contract. If anything signals that McCarthy is Minnesota’s guy, it’s how the team addressed its quarterback room from March through April, with Howell and undrafted rookie Max Brosmer the only “threats” to McCarthy entering training camp.
Minnesota is all-in on McCarthy, and really has been since he proved he was 100% healthy this offseason. That’s a fact, not an opinion.
