J.J. McCarthy deserves patience, not panic, after four NFL starts

Four starts into his pro career, Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy has performed exactly like a guy who has, well, only made four starts since entering the NFL in 2024.

In his four games this season, McCarthy has completed 53.7 percent of his passes for 692 yards, five touchdowns, and six interceptions. He's also rushed for 110 yards and two touchdowns in his four appearances in the Vikings' starting lineup this year.

Despite McCarthy's struggles, which were to be expected, Minnesota has come away with wins in two of his four starts this season.

Still, some are already beginning to think about alternative signal-caller options for the Vikings in the near future, including ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio, who recently shared that he believes the team needs to have a quarterback competition next year to get the most out of McCarthy.

Thankfully, NBC Sports' Chris Simms fired back at Florio and made sure to remind everyone that Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell needs to do a better job at setting his young quarterback up for success each week.

"They've got to help out a little bit, too. Again, he can't be the leading rusher.

He can't be the leading rusher and the leading passer and do everything, and this, to me, goes back on the Vikings and Kevin O'Connell.

Last week, they helped them out. Yeah, special teams were big. The defense made some plays. They ran the ball. And then he made a few plays to go along with that. He's still a rookie. And that's the way it has to be.

Yesterday was like, 'Hey, it's your fourth start ever. Can you carry us to victory against Baltimore, who's on fire and foaming out of their mouth?' And I just don't think that's fair to him right there.

So that's where I just say, 'Let's just wait it out just a little longer before you try to walk him off the plank. Okay?'”

Let Minnesota Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy learn how to fix his mistakes before deeming him a failure

In the days since Minnesota's loss to the Ravens, plenty have taken up the opportunity to jump ship on McCarthy ever developing into a good quarterback in the NFL. But four starts just isn't enough to accurately predict how a quarterback's future is going to turn out.

Plenty of underwhelming signal-callers from the recent past have put up great numbers in their first four NFL starts under center, while several elite quarterbacks began their pro careers in a similar fashion to McCarthy.

Yes, the day and age we live has increased the want for instant gratification, but the development of a young quarterback isn't something that typically allows for that.

At best, the majority of a young passer's first few starts are full of more negatives than positives. The the time in the following offseason is then spent on fixing the quarterback's biggest issues, and if any noticeable improvements are made, then in year two, the play of the signal-caller should begin to feature more postives than negatives each week.

But this constant rush to judgement about McCarthy's future with the Vikings is already as getting out of control. It's no different than those who stand up immediately after a plane has landed, despite having to wait for the majority of the passengers to exit before they can get off.

What's the hurry? Let the kid figure out how to be a quarterback in the NFL before declaring he's a gigantic bust.

If McCarthy eventually ends up not living up to the expectations that came with being the No. 10 overall pick in the 2024 draft, then that's fine. But for now, he's deserving of more time and patience as he attempts to figure out if he has what it takes to become Minnesota's next great quarterback.