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Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell Is Ready To Move On From J.J. McCarthy

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This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.

J.J. McCarthy
J.J. McCarthy (Credit: IMAGN)

To say that J.J. McCarthy’s career has gotten off to a rocky start would be a major understatement. The Michigan product missed his entire rookie season with a knee injury, and he missed seven of 17 games this year due to multiple ailments.

Even when he played, he didn’t do too well. He completed 57.6 percent of his passes for 1,632 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 12 picks. He also scrambled 37 times for 181 yards and four scores, per Football Reference.

That’s why it’s not much of a surprise to see that the Minnesota Vikings are having second doubts. More than that, head coach Kevin O’Connell just confirmed that the team will get him some competition in the quarterback room for next season:

“I definitely want a competitive situation in that room, because I ultimately think that’s what will make (everyone better),” McCarthy told the media, per Will Ragatz.

Of course, O’Connell also expressed his belief in McCarthy. He claimed that this was probably the best way to bring the best out of him. That being said, there are no guarantees that he will be the starter next season.

Vikings GM Says Drafting J.J. McCarthy Was A Mistake

J.J. McCarthy
J.J. McCarthy (Credit: IMAGN)

The Vikings don’t sound too confident in McCarthy anymore. Just months after he was linked to multiple blockbuster trades to help the team, GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah believes the team probably made a mistake by drafting him:

“You’re trying to make sure that you don’t lock yourselves into what you did and thinking that it’s always right,” Adofo-Mensah said. “I always go back to the process and what we thought at the time. It’s easier to go and be revisionist and results-based, but going to really think through what we had at the time, I still understand why we did what we did. The results maybe didn’t play out the way we wanted them to, but ultimately, I think that at the end of the day, we could’ve executed better in certain places.”

The Vikings executive acknowledged that they should’ve probably prepared better for this situation. That’s after not pursuing Aaron Rodgers and moving on from Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones:

“I don’t want to say overconfidence, but I do think him being here was something that we kind of considered and thought would impact his decision. But ultimately, there are free agents, and to your point, learning lessons. I think, execution-wise, you have to treat it as such. No matter what the conversation is or relationships are, free agents are free for a reason, and they’re allowed to vet all their options. Ultimately, we could’ve executed better around that,” he added.

At the end of the day, McCarthy has only made ten starts, so it’s early to give up on him. For now, however, things don’t look good for him.

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