Making Sense of J.J. McCarthy and the Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings opted for McCarthy, despite the fact that he had missed his entire rookie season with a knee injury, letting Darnold walk in free agency.

While Darnold has been lighting it up for the Seattle Seahawks this season, McCarthy has struggled for the most part in limited action this season. That action has been limited because he's been injured again, leaving veteran journeyman Carson Wentz to hold down the fort until he returns.

On the latest episode of "Best Podcast Available," I sat down with Arif Hasan (who covers all things NFL and beyond for Wide Left, but has a particular interest in the Vikings), to talk about the potential buyer's remorse in Minnesota.

"When you're so good at consistently maximizing quarterbacks...I would understand if you felt really confident about your ability to not just to evaluate, but to coach quarterbacks," Hasan said of McConnell. "So, you've got this cost-controlled quarterback (McCarthy), and we've got the ability to actually upgrade our defense. We're not going to be able to keep some members of the defense, so we need to bring in some fliers. So, the defense is maybe not gonna be where it was last year unless we make some investments. And the only way we can make those investments is if we move on from (Darnold)."

Hasan noted that it makes perfect sense for McConnell's confidence in his own ability to maximize any quarterback to influence the team's decision to go with the younger, cheaper option in McCarthy, rather than pay big money to retain Darnold, who had never seen the same success in his career prior to joining the Vikings and McConnell.

But the results haven't been pretty for Minnesota, despite the fact that they currently own a 3-2 record. Two of their three wins have come against the Cleveland Browns (1-5) and the Cincinnati Bengals (2-4). The Vikings are one of only five teams in the league who have still yet to accumulate 1,000 total passing yards so far this season.

While McCarthy turned some heads with an impressive second-half comeback in a Week 1 victory on the road against the Chicago Bears, the majority of his play has been inconsistent at best, and downright bad at worst. Through two starts this season, the former Michigan star has barely thrown for 300 yards total, with a pair of touchdown passes and three interceptions, while completing just 58 percent of his attempts.

It hasn't all been on the quarterback, though.

Injuries have ravaged an offensive line that was supposed to be the anchor for McCarthy, from left tackle Christian Darrisaw still working his way back from last year's season-ending injury, so wrist surgery for first-round pick Donovan Jackson, and multiple concussions already this season for starting center Ryan Kelly.

"All five players (along the offensive line) have either had diminishing returns, or missed time due to injury," Hasan pointed out. "And then backup center gets injured. Things have gone sideways fast for the Vikings, where they built this perfect environment, but it was like a Potemkin village, it's this facade where everything looks good, but as soon as you open a door and walk into one of these buildings, it's not a real building."

Still, for a team full of veterans who joined a 14-win club hoping to make a deep playoff run or even chase a Lombardi Trophy, the kind of quarterback play we've seen from McCarthy so far isn't exactly inspiring. That's especially true when you look around the rest of the NFC, and see how much more difficult the conference has gotten this season.

If things don't look way better for McCarthy and the offense down the stretch, those veterans could end up looking elsewhere if the Vikings still believe he's their quarterback beyond this season.

"I think this was the second-oldest defense in the league, based on expected starters," Hasan said. "These are guys who have an expectation that they're gonna win immediately, so you want to do right by them. Also, acquiring younger guys with the same level of talent is really difficult. You either have to nail it in the draft, which the Vikings have generally not been doing, or pay a lot in free agency. It's really hard to replace these high-level veterans."

There's still a lotta ballgame left for McCarthy to prove he can be the franchise quarterback of the present and future for Minnesota, but if he doesn't improve in a big way over the rest of this season, there could be big questions heading into 2026 about whether or not he's the man for the job. He'll still have two years left on his rookie deal, then the fifth-year option, but the rest of the roster will have to be overhauled along the way in hopes of keeping a contender around him while he continues to develop.

To check out the full conversation, watch the entire episode of BPA here: