The Minnesota Vikings need to accept the decision to draft J.J. McCarthy wasn’t the right one. They knew he needed time to develop, but they never gave McCarthy that opportunity. According to an ESPN story, Minnesota had a development plan in place for McCarthy. That plan fell apart when Minnesota opted to let both Daniel Jones and Sam Darnold go.
Did Minnesota fail McCarthy from the start? McCarthy wasn’t their first choice, and even then, the Vikings deviated from their process when it became apparent they weren’t going to get their first choice (Drake Maye). A lot of the problems started with Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, though he’s not fully to blame. McCarthy is now the third-string quarterback a year after the Vikings tried to convince everybody McCarthy was their guy.
Now they have to figure out what to do with McCarthy with his time in Minnesota quickly coming to an end.
The Vikings’ J.J. McCarthy decision was flawed from the start
The red flags were there from the beginning. Minnesota knew McCarthy wasn’t its first choice, yet they tried to make it work. In fact, the Vikings viewed McCarthy in the second tier of quarterbacks in the 2024 draft class with Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye as tier one quarterbacks. He had maturity issues that continued to come up last season. When Adofo-Mensah and the Vikings front office failed to put a veteran with McCarthy last season, it proved Minnesota failed their own development plan.
According to ESPN, Maye was Minnesota’s first choice and it tried to move up from pick No. 11 in the 2024 NFL Draft to No. 3. The New England Patriots turned down that deal. Fine. Minnesota had Sam Darnold and then later signed Daniel Jones after he was released by the New York Giants. McCarthy was their backup plan and it was clear to Minnesota that McCarthy was going to need multiple years before he was ready to be a starting quarterback in the NFL.
Adofo-Mensah’s excitement about building a team around a young quarterback swayed the Vikings from leaning on veteran experience at the most important position. They accelerated his development and it backfired, forcing them to scramble for solutions this past offseason and turning to Kyler Murray. The fact that McCarthy started the season as third-string quarterback makes it clear the Vikings don’t believe in him like they once did.
It’s an interesting situation because Nolan Teasley took over after Adofo-Mensah got fired. He inherited this situation and has to do damage control now.
Why Minnesota should part ways with J.J. McCarthy while he still have value
Between the maturity issues ESPN cited that have become a problem with McCarthy as well as him not playing well, they need to cut ties with him while they still can. There are plenty of teams that will gladly take a flier on him. As the third-string quarterback, McCarthy is only available if both Murray and Wentz go down with an injury in a game. They don’t plan on playing him this season, so why keep him?
When you look at what has happened with Anthony Richardson Sr. in Indianapolis, you have to wonder what Minnesota’s ultimate plan is with McCarthy. The Colts haven’t found a suitor to take Richardson, so they’re forced to have him in a reduced backup role. Minnesota could be in the same boat with McCarthy. If they wanted a longer-term plan for him, that should have been clear from the front office down. Adofo-Mensah preferred to build a team around McCarthy’s rookie contract rather than paying top dollar for an elite quarterback. In theory, if the Vikings drafte McCarthy and brought back one of Jones or Darnold for another year, it might have ended up working out.
The Vikings were supposed to set up McCarthy for success. But they didn’t build the roster like they should have. Now, two years later, they’re wondering where it all went wrong. Now they’re left with the uncomfortable question everybody is asking: Why did they draft McCarthy in the first place?
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