Vikings draft target recently compared to Super Bowl quarterback

With two first-round selections in this year's NFL Draft, many believe the Minnesota Vikings are going to attempt to move up in the opening round to land one of the top 2024 quarterback prospects.

If the Vikings are able to figure out a way to trade up in the first round, most think they will end up with either former North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye or former Michigan signal-caller J.J. McCarthy.

Recently, ESPN's Bill Connelly came up with NFL comparisons for some of this year's top quarterback prospects, and one of the players he compared McCarthy to is quite intriguing.

Minnesota Vikings draft target J.J. McCarthy compared to San Francisco 49ers QB Brock Purdy

When it came to figuring out which current or former NFL quarterbacks compare to McCarthy as he prepares to enter the league, Connelly went with late-career Tony Romo and current San Francisco 49ers signal-caller Brock Purdy.

Connelly describes McCarthy as a quarterback NFL teams can win with "as long as you surround him with the type of quality he had at Michigan."

At the same time Connelly admits that we really have "absolutely no idea" if the former Michigan signal-caller can succeed in the NFL if he lands with a team that needs him to essentially carry the entire offense since he was asked to do so little during his college career.

As for the comparison to Purdy, Vikings fans would definitely be happy if McCarthy could achieve a similar amount of success to what the current 49ers quarterback has already been able to have in his first two NFL seasons.

After he was selected with the final pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, all Purdy has done during his short career so far is help lead San Francisco to back-to-back NFC Championship appearances and a spot in the most recent Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs.

In 16 starts for the 49ers this past season, Purdy completed 69.4 percent of his passes for 4,280 yards, 31 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions, which amounted to a 113.0 passer rating.

San Francisco also has a 21-6 record (including the playoffs) when he's been in the starting lineup during the past two years. Any Minnesota fan would be ecstatic with that type of success from McCarthy if he ended up with the purple and gold later this month.

Yes, Purdy has had the luxury of having a ton of talent around him during the last two seasons, as the 49ers have been able to take advantage of his extremely cheap rookie contract. But plenty of young quarterbacks have struggled in the past when put in similar situations, including former San Francisco signal-caller Trey Lance.

The biggest question from all of this is whether a quarterback of Purdy's caliber is worth trading up for in the NFL Draft? If the goal is to win games, then the simple answer is yes.

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