It's certainly no secret that J.J. McCarthy has had his fair share of struggles since the Minnesota Vikings made him the 10th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
For starters, he's struggled to stay healthy. After sitting out his first professional season after suffering a torn meniscus, thus making him the only first-round quarterback ever to miss his entire rookie campaign due to injury, the Michigan alum missed another five games this season due to a high-ankle sprain and recently sat out a sixth with a concussion.
And then, of course, there's the matter of his subpar play on the field. To his credit, McCarthy is coming off the best overall and first turnover-free game of his young career, completing a career-best 69.6 percent of his passes for 163 yards with a career-best three touchdown passes and zero interceptions in the Vikings' 31-0 win over the Washington Commanders.
Overall, however, the 22-year-old simply hasn't been as consistent as Minnesota would like. In his seven starts, he's completed just 56.0 percent of his passes, averaged just 156 passing yards per game, and has thrown more interceptions (10) than touchdowns (9). Add all that up, and his 67.4 passer rating ranks dead last in the NFL.
Naturally, there have been countless opinions thrown around about what Minnesota should do with McCarthy moving forward. And Vikings legend Cris Carter is now taking his turn to offer up his thoughts on the matter.
Cris Carter says Minnesota Vikings are "stuck" with J.J. McCarthy
During a recent interview with CardPlayer.com's Kyle Odegard, Carter stated that while he was happy to see McCarthy have a good game in the win over Washington, the performance also needs to be taken with a grain of salt, as the Commanders have one of the worst defensive units in the league, specifically saying "Santa Claus came to town just a little bit early for the Vikings and their passing attack."
When asked what the team should do under center next season, Carter says the Vikings undoubtedly need to bring in a veteran to challenge McCarthy, as he believes competition is "what makes players better." Like everyone else, he's also worried about McCarthy's ability to stay healthy.
When asked if there was any specific veteran that intrigued him, Carter got candid and broke down the reality of what the Vikings are facing with their current situation.
"The Vikings are stuck with J.J. They just drafted him two years ago, and they are stuck with him. There’s really no legitimate Plan B right now. Do they have to have a backup? Yes. But all this stuff about trading for another guy – they don’t have the cap space.
They spent so much cash this year on the rest of the team so they could have a quarterback on a rookie contract. That is a very efficient business model in the NFL, and that was their plan.
That’s why they let Sam (Darnold) go, and why Danny Dimes is in Indianapolis. They decided J.J. McCarthy was going to be their guy, and that’s not going to stop at the end of the season."
Carter is certainly spot-on about the Vikings' salary cap situation, as they currently have -$35,983,572 in available space for the 2026 season. Yes, that's a minus sign in front of the figure. And that's before paying any of their '26 draft picks.
So, bringing in any of the high-priced names that are being thrown around is obviously going to be a problem.
But while Carter has his concerns, he did say he believes McCarthy is "in good hands" with Kevin O'Connell, also noting how the second-year signal-caller has the benefit of having two elite receivers at his disposal in Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.
Assuming he stays upright, McCarthy has four games left this season to build some momentum going into next year. And Carter, like every other Vikings fan, will undoubtedly be watching.