Nolan Teasley has been the Minnesota Vikings' general manager for less than a month, but he has moved quickly to shape the front office the way he sees fit. Among his new hires are not one but two assistant general managers, Andrew Healy and Trent Kirchner.
Kirchner is following Teasley from the Seattle Seahawks' front office, where he most recently worked as their Vice President of Player Personnel. Healy spent the last 10 seasons with the Cleveland Browns, most recently as Vice President of Research and Strategy.
Healy comes from a drastically non-football background. After earning a Bachelor's in Applied Mathematics and Political Science at Yale, he earned his PhD in Economics at MIT. Following that time as a student, Healy taught Economics at Loyola Marymount before joining the Browns in 2016.
As recently chronicled by The Athletic's Alec Lewis, Healy knows how to speak football. He started writing for a blog called Football Perspective in the early 2010s, which caught the attention of then Football Outsiders editor-in-chief Aaron Schatz.
New Minnesota Vikings hire may help keep J.J. McCarthy around
Healy also worked on a college quarterback projection model called “QBASE." It's essentially a combination of college performance, experience, and expected draft position used to create an evaluation that's encompassed by one number: Total defense-adjusted yards above replacement per attempt (TDYAR/A), where 0 is replacement-level.
Thor Nystrom of SKOR North is a known driver of the McCarthy bandwagon, and he seems poised to steer it until all four wheels come off. So on a recent episode of "Thor Talks Purple" show, he was more than happy to note how the system Healy created was very complementary of McCarthy heading into the 2024 draft.
"With Healy, I wanted to talk just a second more about his most famous projection system. That was called QBASE...which is Quarterback Adjusted Stats and Experience.
Just a little explanation. So this is back in 2015, when he created this system. QBASE established a new way to evaluate a quarterback's collegiate statistics by adjusting them for the quality of his teammates and opponents, to predict NFL success.
...Based on those adjustments, QBASE conducts 50,000 simulations to simulate NFL passing production."
Nystrom then went a little tongue-in-cheek.
"Why do I bring this up? Why is this topical? Well, because we still have QBASE and we still had QBASE in 2024.
Do you remember the quarterback class of 2024? Do you remember a certain quarterback that was in that quarterback class?"
Wouldn't it be fun to see what Andrew Healy's projection system thought about J.J. McCarthy in 2024?"
Nystrom noted how No. 1in QBASE in 2024 was the top quarterback in that draft class, Caleb Williams, and the No. 2 overall pick, Jayden Daniels, was No. 2.
McCarthy came in third, ahead of Drake Maye, most notably. In an article Schatz posted on ESPN.com a couple of weeks before the 2024 draft, here's what QBASE said about McCarthy.
"McCarthy's 2023 numbers were not as exceptional as Daniels', but in leading Michigan to victory in the College Football Playoff, he did everything the Wolverines asked.
He was efficient (72.3% completion percentage), he protected the football (just four interceptions all season) and he picked up yards on the ground when necessary (202 rushing yards and 3.2 per attempt).
He was only a two-year starter, and like Daniels, he has shot up draft boards late, both of which hurt his projection. But coach Jim Harbaugh really likes him, calling him the best quarterback in Michigan history (even though Tom Brady went there)."
QBASE essentially backs up where pre-draft evaluations of McCarthy were. He wasn't asked to do a lot at Michigan, but he was efficient and proficient with potential that wasn't overly hard to see.
When Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was fired as Vikings' general manager, McCarthy surely lost a top advocate "in the room" at TCO Performance Center. Where Teasley is, or will be, in that regard is obviously unclear right now.
Until shown otherwise, Kyler Murray is the favorite to be the Week 1 starting quarterback for the Vikings. But based on what the projection system he created produced, while not forgetting other important factors, Healy may be a strong voice saying McCarthy should not be given up on just yet.
Add us as a preferred source on Google