J.J. McCarthy's Quick Hook
The least-dramatic quarterback competition in recent memory is over, with J.J. McCarthy being relegated to backup duties in Minnesota.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, the Minnesota quarterback “competition” is over. On Tuesday, it was reported the Vikings had decided to go with Kyler Murray instead of J.J. McCarthy as their starter.
It was worth at least acting like this was a competition, for a while. There’s a world where everything finally clicked for McCarthy and he arrived to camp ready and improved and fulfilling the potential he was drafted with. That, uh. That appears not to have happened, as the reports coming out of Vikings camp have been catastrophic, to say the least. This has long since been prepared for – we’re already getting the extensive insider breakdowns of just how everything went to shit so quickly. You don’t bang those out in a couple hours.
The Vikings? They’ll be OK. Kyler Murray is not a good quarterback by any stretch of the imagination, but he is an NFL-caliber starter. On his best days, he’s nigh-transcendent, with his combination of mobility and arm strength being the stuff that makes coaches drool. And on his bad days, which happen just about every other week? He’s still better than McCarthy has been. The Vikings are in trouble this season because they play in the toughest division in football, not because Murray is going to serve as some sort of anchor.
No, I’m more interested in the future of McCarthy at this point, because it’s so rare to see someone flame out quite this strongly after being so lauded in the run-up.
