Heading into the final week of the preseason, we've thankfully known for a bit now who the Minnesota Vikings' starting quarterback will be. The ongoing question is who the No. 2 quarterback will be, with the idea that Carson Wentz should be it rather than J.J. McCarthy definitely out there.
To put it simply, McCarthy hasn't shown enough consistency on any front to be counted on as the No. 2 quarterback if something happens to Kyler Murray.
While Wentz's days as a promising young quarterback, or even an upper half of the league starter, are obviously behind him, he's a known quantity who performed at a mostly acceptable level when called up on last season.
On Tuesday's episode of SKOR North's "Purple Daily" show, when co-host Phil Mackey asked him for his sense on where things stand on the QB2 front, Judd Zulgad hit the perfect note about McCarthy.
"There's a couple of things that I think are important to keep in mind here. One is, I don't think the competition for the backup is McCarthy against Wentz. I think it's McCarthy against McCarthy."
After Mackey called that idea "very meta", Zulgad reinforced the point.
"Yeah, because Wentz... they've literally said we don't think he needs a ton of work. So it's not like a duel. It's more like J.J. McCarthy, the good J.J., is competing against the bad one. And that's the competition."
Minnesota Vikings QB J.J. MCarthy is truly battling against himself more than anything
Zulgad reiterated that if it comes down to who Kevin O'Connell trusts more in a situation where Murray gets injured, Wentz would clearly be the one to enter a game.
It's also possible to avoid most of the conversation about who the primary backup is, until a necessary moment arrives anyway, by having them both active on game days.
Mackey later noted how the Vikings, after misguidedly annointing him as the unchallenged (and unchallengeable) starter last year, raised the bar for McCarthy by signing Murray and bringing Wentz back.
McCarthy has not delivered what is necessary to clear that bar, from the competition for the starting job with Murray and now in regard to whatever level of competition there is with Wentz for the No. 2 spot on the depth chart.
If Wentz is the QB2, how much sense it would make to keep McCarthy around as the No. 3 quarterback is a pertinent question. The answer is not very much, all things considered. McCarthy's confidence is already all but gone, and having him as the No. 3 quarterback would only make it worse.
That's where the root of Zulgad's idea about the backup quarterback competition being "McCarthy vs. McCarthy" is. His confidence is so depleted that he's battling himself more than anything, or anyone, else.
There are multiple reasons for that, but it's undeniably where it is.
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