“They Don’t Have a Choice”: Ex-Vikings GM Spills Beans on J.J. McCarthy Move and Post-Kirk Cousins Strategy

Programs are willing to go to any extent as far as drafting the quarterback J.J. McCarthy is concerned. Now, the Minnesota Vikings are even willing to compromise with their pockets as their former GM exposes the possibility for the program to overpay to get McCarthy.

However, this move will not be easy for the Vikings since they have to go through a lot of compromises that will have a direct impact on their Draft next year. Going by the speculation, McCarthy is supposed to fit ideally in Kevin O’Connell’s offense after Kirk Cousins’ departure. 

The path Minnesota has to go through to get McCarthy

NFL analyst Dov Kleiman reposted some of the analysis by Rick Spielman, the former Vikings GM. In Spielman’s opinion, “I think J.J. will be a good pro, but Minnesota will overpay to get him. At this point, they don’t have a choice.” Going by the assumptions that Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, and Drake Maye will be the top-three selections, Connell’s squad will seek refuge in McCarthy. 

In that case, they will have to move all the way up to No. 2 or No. 3, which would cost Vikings on the pocket. As further pointed out by Spielman, “They’re going to have to give [picks 11 and 23] and their 2025 first, plus some more draft capital.” To avoid these repercussions, Minnesota could have waited for the quarterback to fall to 11. 

However, no chance can be taken since the New York Giants are at No. 6, and the Denver Broncos and Las Vegas Raiders can also move up to drafting McCarthy. In this case, Connell’s program will move up to the Arizona Cardinals or the Los Angeles Chargers, who hold the No. 4 or No. 5 picks, respectively. All these are because of McCarthy being an ideal fit. 

McCarthy and his fitting qualities for the Vikings

As Cousins left ties with the Vikings to join the Atlanta Falcons, the program has been left in a precarious position. To find an ideal replacement for Cousin, McCarthy will be the best quarterback, as pointed out by ESPN’s Matt Brown. According to Brown, “The Vikings can set up McCarthy as a distributor in Kevin O’Connell’s defined passing game, using play-action concepts to put him in a position to throw with better timing and rhythm.”

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On top of that, the 21-year-old quarterback carries with himself recommendable statistics. The former Michigan Wolverine’s quarterback completed 76.3% of his play-action passes last season, bringing his total QBR up to 90.4. Even though it will take McCarthy some time to reach Cousins’ level right from the beginning, he possesses the ability to create outside of his structure because of his mobility. 

Even though the moves may cost the Vikings heavily, in the long run, on an annual basis, they will be more than $40 million cheaper. As they have added veteran Sam Darnold in free agency, McCarthy, on the other hand, could be their long-term starter, owning the best combination of good ball placement and mobility. 

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