Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy is the highest-selected quarterback in team history, picked No. 10 overall in last year’s draft.
That status carries an expectation that McCarthy will be not just good, but great. However, expectations are difficult to live up to at the quarterback position, and it’s safe to say that NFL Network’s Bucky Brooks comparison leaves more to be desired.
On a May 19 episode of the “Move the Sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks” podcast, Brooks compared McCarthy to Alex Smith. The No. 1 overall pick from the 2005 draft, Smith won just two playoff games and made three Pro Bowl appearances in a career that was marred by injury.
“[Multiple quarterbacks have] enjoyed a high level of success under Kevin O’Connell. I believe that continues, but I believe it continues in a different way with J.J. McCarthy,” Brooks said. “To me, J.J. McCarthy is more like an Alex Smith-type quarterback, meaning he’s talented enough, he’s athletic enough to do a bunch of different things, but he also understands how to play winning ball based on what he did at Michigan.”
Brooks’ comparison wasn’t a slight against McCarthy, rather he sees the young quarterback currently as a high-end game manager who can commit to playing in O’Connell’s system in the short term.
“I think Kevin O’Connell, early, is not going to give him [a lot] and expect him to go win the game. I think he’s going to set the other guys to do it,” Brooks added. “He’s going to be a high-end trailer. If he operates like a high-end trailer for the Minnesota Vikings, where he lets the rest of the team carry him, the Minnesota Vikings can win a ton of games.
“And then, as he gets comfortable, maybe he shows some of the playmaking ability at the end of his second year.”
Bucky Brooks Bets on J.J. McCarthy as NFL’s Biggest Wild Card
Brooks’ comparison may not sit well with some Vikings fans, but the NFL analyst is one of the biggest vocal supporters of McCarthy entering his first season under center.
Brooks took a deep dive into how the Vikings have built a ready-to-win roster and can plug McCarthy in.
“Though some will take the ‘high-end game manager’ language as a dig at McCarthy’s upside, it speaks to his winning pedigree and ego-free approach. McCarthy has already demonstrated his willingness to sacrifice individual stats for team success as a collegian (SEE: 27-1 record at Michigan with a national title), and that certainly made him an attractive prospect for evaluators who value “winners” at the position,” Brooks wrote.
J.J. McCarthy’s Humbleness is His X-Factor Entering Year 1 as Vikings’ Starting QB
GettyJ.J. McCarthy
McCarthy’s “ego-free approach,” Brooks mentions, is something worth exploring more.
Many quarterbacks drafted early in the first round tend to flash high-level playmaking ability and have been winners for most of their lives. Their college highlight tapes are tantalizing for fans daydreaming about those skills coming to their teams.
But the reality of the NFL hits hard.
The positional arrogance and belief to play hero often tends to bite quarterbacks more than it carries them at the next level. Few quarterbacks come out of college making a career out of converting circus-like throws like Patrick Mahomes did — and even he sat a year and had to learn when to play hero and when to play safe.
Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield are examples of young quarterbacks coming out of college with all the tools to succeed but leaned too much on playing hero ball on bad teams throughout their rookie deals.
McCarthy won’t have to do that. He has a strong supporting cast and a coach who has built a system for him to succeed.
