Colin Cowherd is suddenly raving about J.J. McCarthy's arm strength

If Monday's come-from-behind performance by J.J. McCarthy was an indication of his future in the NFL, he's going to make Colin Cowherd look pretty dumb.

Cowherd is probably the most staunch McCarthy doubter. He's ripped him and questioned him continuously since the Vikings drafted him 10th overall in 2024. Cowherd has doubted McCarthy's arm strength and claimed his success at Michigan was more about the players around him than him actually leading a national championship team.

But after witnessing McCarthy's fourth-quarter magic against the Bears, Cowherd might be changing his tune. We noted in a previous story how it took Cowherd 64 minutes to go from tweeting about McCarthy not being ready to applauding his incredible turnaround.

While he's not ready to compare McCarthy to Tom Brady or Josh Allen just yet, he is comparing him to Baker Mayfield, though it's hard to tell if Cowherd's comparison is a compliment or a subtle dig.

"He looked as bad as any quarterback I saw this weekend in the first two and a half quarters. Tell me if I'm wrong on this, but J.J. McCarthy reminds me a little of Baker Mayfield. Baker plays with a lot of emotion, and when Baker is feeling it, you know like a basketball player gets into a zone, Baker hits a couple completions, his accuracy and his velocity noticeably improve," Cowherd said on his podcast.

"It was just an incredible turnaround," he continued. "I've never been a huge J.J. McCarthy fan. I don't see what trait — I hear he's a winner and he's got some alpha and he's got pretty good feet and moves — but what you saw in the second half, it does feel a little bit Baker Mayfield. He's an emotional player and when he gets confidence and when he gets rolling, he's got some zip on the ball."

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Does Cowherd know he's changed his opinion on McCarthy's arm?

Perhaps he doesn't even realize he's changed his opinion, but Cowherd needed only one solid quarter from McCarthy to change his mind about the 22-year-old arm strength. If you'll recall, Cowherd, back in June, claimed McCarthy lacks a "wow" trait.

"To be a great franchise quarterback," Cowherd said in June, "there has to be a 'wow' trait. Let's just go through them. Mahomes: arm talent. Allen: sheer force of size. Lamar: athletic ability. Stafford: has one of the great arms in the last 30 years in the league. Burrow: composure and accuracy. Herbert: big, strong, power arm. C.J. Stroud: accuracy. Hurts: strength, pound for pound. Kyler Murray: elusiveness. You start stacking up these quarterbacks, there's a trait.

"Go back and look at the people I trust," Cowherd continued, referring to McCarthy's pre-draft evaluations. "I never buy, when you say this about a quarterback, 'that guy is a winner.' Everybody under Jim Harbaugh and Nick Saban and Steve Spurrier's a winner. I don't wanna hear that. If you go back and look, his arm is modest, his escapability is modest, his release wasn't super quick.

"There is no great trait. That's why I was always a Darnold fan. Darnold is tough, with a big arm. He can be reckless, but there are times you watch Darnold, his ability to make big throws while moving is special. I don't get McCarthy's wow trait. I don't see the wow."

Fast forward to the present day and Cowherd has done a complete 180, praising McCarthy for his velocity, mobility and pocket awareness. Here are a few of his comments from his podcast.

• "He's just going to grow and grow and grow — and then let's just watch it unfold. It's fun."
• "When J.J. McCarthy got into a rhythm, he was very, very accurate."
• ""His velocity was excellent. That was J.J. McCarthy making multiple nice throws with a lot of velocity. And he does have good feet. You can move the pocket. He's got a little Brock Purdy, that you can move the pocket with him."

At this rate of change, Cowherd will likely be driving the McCarthy bandwagon by Week 6. But we'll be keeping receipts, whether or not he publicly acknowledges his inconsistent opinions. That said, like all of us, he's allowed to change his opinion — so long as he eventually admits that he got it wrong.

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