J.J. McCarthy has only had five opportunities this season to prove to everyone that he was worth the first-round pick the Minnesota Vikings used to select him in the 2024 NFL Draft. And to be completely fair, McCarthy hasn't even come close to proving it yet.
However, the Vikings drafted him high for a reason, and they would be doing their entire organization a disservice if they didn't give him several more games to redeem himself.
Still, some are already getting off the McCarthy train, including Yahoo Sports' Nate Tice (son of former Minnesota head coach Mike Tice), who recently shared on an episode of "The Ringer NFL Show" what he believes the percent chance is that the Vikings' second-year quarterback will open up the 2026 season as the team's starter.
"Less than 20 percent.
I think they're going to hunt [for someone else] this offseason, or he's on the roster with a vet in front of him.”
Could the Minnesota Vikings bail on J.J. McCarthy as a starter before the 2026 season?
Let's just rewind to Week 9, when McCarthy returned to the field for the first time since Week 2, and all he did was reinvigorate the Vikings fan base by helping Minnesota get a win in a hostile road environment over a heavily favored Detroit Lions team.
The fact that less than three weeks later, Tice currently believes there is only a 20 percent chance that McCarthy opens up the 2026 season as the Vikings' starting quarterback is pretty insane.
Whatever happened to giving young signal-callers a chance to learn and develop? Way too many people have been awfully quick to slap the bust tag on McCarthy to the point where it's felt like they began the 2025 season with the tag already in their hands.
Yes, Minnesota made a gamble to roll with a 22-year-old, inexperienced quarterback as the team's starter a year after winning 14 games in 2024. But just because it hasn't gone as some had hoped so far, it doesn't mean it's time for the Vikings to already think about bailing on the kid.
Since 2010, Minnesota has won a grand total of two playoff games. You know who else has two playoff wins since 2010?
The New York Jets.
Yes, the Jets. One of the most dysfunctional franchises in the history of the NFL has earned the same number of postseason victories as the Vikings since the 2010 season.
So, maybe we should stop acting like Minnesota knows what it's doing.
Maybe they should stick with attempting to develop a young quarterback instead of signing the latest veteran signal-caller from the lost-and-found who might lead the team to an appearance (not a win) in the playoffs.
If McCarthy fails, then he fails.
But the Vikings should at least give him enough time to attempt to turn things around instead of being impatient and pulling the plug too quickly because he's not leading them to another meaningless 10 or 11-win season.