By the end of February, the Chicago Bears knew that Caleb Williams would be their pick at #1 overall in the draft. Their scouts had spent three years evaluating him at Oklahoma and USC. They loved his progress as a passer, teammate, and leader. He had unique traits that are often hard to find. However, some people still held out, wondering if the team might change their minds at the eleventh hour, especially once interviews began. One player that stood a good chance of doing that was JJ McCarthy.
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It is easy to understand why. The young man had just guided Michigan to its first national championship since 1997. He had good size and a live arm. Everybody raved about his mental makeup as a leader. Former Wolverine coach Jim Harbaugh, who’d developed Andrew Luck and Colin Kaepernick, said he was the best quarterback he ever coached. Perhaps the wise thing to do was follow that advice. GM Ryan Poles didn’t listen. He stuck to his guns on Williams. Based on recent reports from ESPN, it sounds like that was a good decision.
McCarthy hasn’t been having an easy time of things up in Minnesota.
With that said, here’s what we can say about McCarthy so far. After two days of minicamp, and with one final week of OTAs remaining, he’s squarely behind veteran Sam Darnold on the depth chart. During the practices open to reporters, Darnold has taken nearly all of the first-team reps, and more often than not, veteran Nick Mullens has been the next quarterback to step in followed by McCarthy and then Jaren Hall.
There are no indications that the Vikings were looking to test McCarthy in a “1’s vs. 1’s” situation this spring. McCarthy’s throws have plenty of juice but have not always been accurate. During a red zone drill Wednesday, he had three consecutive passes hit the ground. That’s nothing to be concerned about, especially because other passes were right on the money. But after years of watching Kirk Cousins’ precision throws, the lack of consistency has been noticeable.
JJ McCarthy isn’t silencing his critics.
Draft experts had reservations about him as a passer from the start. While they didn’t deny his underrated arm strength and poise under pressure, there were legitimate concerns about his accuracy, ball placement, and ability to go through progressions. It never came up much last season because Michigan was a run-heavy team. McCarthy threw 30 or more passes in just three games. Some will say that was the Wolverine’s style. Others will say it was because Harbaugh didn’t fully trust McCarthy to handle a more pass-heavy scheme. For context, Luck threw 30 or more passes nine times under the head coach in 2011.
The fact Sam Darnold is “squarely” ahead of JJ McCarthy in a straight battle for the starting job says a lot. Keep in mind this is a guy who flopped as a starter with the Jets and Panthers. People have long since admitted he is a lost cause. For him to have a strong grip on the job already is not a great sign for the Vikings’ prospects this season. Their only solace is having an excellent wide receiver duo in Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. They better hope McCarthy gets over his issues soon.
