Minnesota Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy Receives Brutal Take From Sports Illustrated

The Minnesota Vikings made a move to bring in their quarterback of the future during the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. J.J. McCarthy was drafted and the franchise could not be more excited about him being their future.

McCarthy is fresh off of leading his team to to a National Championship with the Michigan Wolverines in 2023. He showed top-notch leadership, great arm talent, and the ability to make big plays in clutch situations. All of those things are integral pieces of an NFL quarterback.

However, there are some critics who don’t see McCarthy’s college success translating to the NFL. Many believe that he is one of the biggest potential bust candidates out of the 2024 draft class.

Minnesota Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy Receives Brutal Take From Sports Illustrated

In a recent column from Sports Illustrated, they looked at five potential bust candidates from the 2024 NFL Draft. At the very top of their list was McCarthy. Here is the explanation that they gave for placing him there.

“McCarthy doesn’t have to be a star signal-caller to turn the Vikings into a playoff team, but teams don’t use top-10 picks on safe game managers. McCarthy received plenty of draft hype because his low volume of throws in a run-heavy Michigan offense somehow gave him more upside because there’s a bit of mystery as to how much the 21-year-old can improve. He doesn’t have the skill set of Maye, the experience of Penix and isn’t as good of a creator as Williams and Daniels.”

Sports Illustrated continued forward with another paragraph of explanation about their selection of J.J. McCarthy.

“That could explain why he was the fifth quarterback taken in the NFL draft. But as a top-10 pick, the Vikings can’t afford McCarthy to be the fifth-best quarterback when it’s all said and done. The bar is set high for McCarthy and we’ll soon learn whether he had the most upside among his peers or he’s just a serviceable signal-caller with limitations. The Vikings are hoping for the former.”

While there are legitimate reasons for concern with McCarthy, he has also shown major reasons for optimism about his future NFL success. He has a great arm, a great football IQ, great leadership, and loves to learn from coaches. Those are qualities that will help him find success.

During the 2023 season with the Wolverines, McCarthy ended up completing 72.3 percent of his pass attempts for 2,991 yards, 22 touchdowns, and four interceptions. Those numbers may not be huge, but they’re solid across the board.

Granted, there is a lot of room that McCarthy needs to develop, but he has the necessary skills to be viewed as a long-term franchise quarterback.

All of that being said, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for McCarthy and the Minnesota Vikings. They are very confident in his future abilities, but he still needs to show it on the field. Hopefully, he is able to prove all of the critics and doubters wrong early on in his NFL career.