Before J.J. McCarthy was selected with the No. 10 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings, there were plenty of people who expressed their doubts about how successful he could be at the pro level.
Some might assume the majority of those doubts about McCarthy probably disappeared after everyone watched Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell resurrect the career of Sam Darnold last season.
But that would be too easy, as the McCarthy skeptics have returned less than two months after Minnesota played its final game of the 2024 campaign.
Tired old narratives about Minnesota Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy are starting to resurface
Most recently, former NFL scout John Middlekauff dug up some of the old narratives that used to surround the young Vikings quarterback during an episode of the "3 and Out with John Middlekauff" podcast.
"Minnesota can do whatever. I think it's pretty easy to justify, 'Listen, we drafted this guy high [and we're] going at it.'
[But] you're going to depend on a player who was on a dominant college football team. So, [in] his two years starting [at Michigan], I bet when it's all said and done, you will have 20-plus guys, that he played with over those two years as the full-time starter, that will be starting in the NFL.
...I mean they didn't lose a game [in that] second year and he was not tasked with like, 'Hey bro, this is gonna be one of those games. Our defense is playing like s**t and we're gonna need 35 points, and I know we got Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, but you're gonna have to carry us. You're gonna have to make throws [against] blitzes, [on] 3rd-and-longs, like buckle-up buttercup.'
He's never had to do that. Not saying that he can't because he can learn too, but [the Vikings are] gonna come in next season with goals. They just were competing to be the No. 1 overall seed and now it's like, 'Ah, we're just cool with, what, winning nine games?' Hell no.
You have a team that is ready-made to just be competitive and that's a lot of pressure to put on a young player who's never started an NFL game.
...There's a lot of risk involved and I'm fascinated to watch it play out because I love interesting stories in the NFL, and you tell me J.J. McCarthy, starting Week 1, coming off the knee injury where he looked like he weighed 150 pounds in that [Week 18] game against the Lions when he was on the sideline.
I'll be tuning in.
Alright, there's a lot to go over here.
First, let's just get the weight-loss thing out of the way. McCarthy reportedly lost more than 20 pounds during the last few months while recovering from a torn meniscus. It's nothing out of the ordinary and there's no reason that he can't gain the majority of the weight back during the next few months with the help of the Vikings training staff, which is one of the best in the NFL.
Then there's the excuse that Michigan's success with McCarthy didn't really have much to do with him starting under center, and instead, he was just surrounded by a bunch of really good players.
Sure, because his two leading receivers during the Wolverines' 2023 season, Roman Wilson and Cornelius Johnson, really tore it up in the NFL in 2024.
Oh no, wait, that didn't happen. Instead, they combined for a total of zero catches as rookies last season.
What about that amazing running back McCarthy had in the backfield behind him at Michigan in 2023, Blake Corum? He definitely made an impact as a rookie in the pros last season, right?
Not exactly, unless one believes rushing for 207 yards and no touchdowns in 17 games is making an impact.
As for carrying the Vikings if the team's defense has a bad game next season, Minnesota allowed 30 points or more to its opponent three times in the team's 18 games in 2024 (including the playoffs).
Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores is returning for his third year with the team and the majority of the defense's top players from last season will be coming back for the 2025 campaign. If anything, Minnesota's defense has the potential to be even better next season than they were in 2024 when they ranked fourth in the NFL in points allowed per offensive drive.
Oh, and then there's that O'Connell guy, who just turned Darnold into a Pro Bowl quarterback that will likely land a very lucrative contract in free agency this offseason. We're really worried about how McCarthy is going to perform in the Vikings' offense with O'Connell calling the shots? No, no we're not.
It is completely fair to be skeptical about Minnesota moving on from Darnold this offseason and transitioning to McCarthy as the team's starter. But to keep bringing up the same narratives from before McCarthy was even a member of the Vikings can only be described as pure laziness.