Vikings Earn a “Not So Great” Assessment for Quarterback Outlook
In fairness, the Vikings earning a subpar passer assessment can’t come as too much of a surprise. After all, the 22-year-old starter is completing just 53.7% of his passes, the kind of percentage that would usually lead to getting a quarterback benched.
On The Athletic, Mike Sando worked through the league’s passers. Partnered alongside Atlanta’s Michael Penix Jr., Tennessee’s Cam Ward, and Cleveland’s Dillon Gabriel, J.J. McCarthy gets plucked down in this category: “Way too early to pass lasting judgment, but so far, not so great.” Part of Sando’s critique rests in what Minnesota moved on from: QB1 Sam Darnold and QB1 Daniel Jones. Both have been shining while McCarthy has seen the shine wear off.
Vikings Earn a Poor QB Assessment
Before going too far, consider Mr. Sando’s assessment of the situation.
The opening thought: “It’s been a rough start for McCarthy under intense scrutiny after the Vikings did not bring back Darnold or Jones, who are both shining for winning teams elsewhere.” And then some further reflection: “In four starts, McCarthy ranks last among 40 qualifying QBs in completion rate and passer rating and 39th in EPA per pass play. He would land in the next category if the early returns were not so extreme. McCarthy is in a tough spot.”
Going into Week 1, very few projected a season where McCarthy would be described as stepping into a tough spot.
The offensive line was looking beautifully beefy, freshly reinvigorated due the additions of LG1 Donovan Jackson, C1 Ryan Kelly, and RG1 Will Fries (the well-paid “tree stump”). Even better was that Adam Thielen had been acquired, Jordan Mason would introduce rugged running, and there was even a new QB2 — the unbelievably tough Carson Wentz — to help out.
Defensively, good things were soon to arrive. All of Isaiah Rodgers, Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave, and others were grafted onto what was a very good defense in 2025.
Bringing it all together is a chef who knows how to turn ingredients into a nice meal. Head coach Kevin O’Connell had done wonders with previous passers and was coming off a Coach of the Year award. Giving him a highly-picked passer to work with was going to lead to a scrumptious plate of food, especially since McCarthy’s redshirt rookie season forced the Michigan man into mastering the mental side of things.
But then reality arrived and so did the struggles.
J.J. McCarthy has played in just four games. Along the way, there have been a pair of wins and a pair of losses. He’s completing a brutal 53.7% of his passes for a bleak 692 yards. The 5 touchdown passes have partnered with 6 interceptions.
And while the quarterback indisputably needs to improve, one could make a rock-solid case that his head coach hasn’t been helping lately.
Just last week, Coach O’Connell opted to throw the ball more than 40 times while giving the rock to the runners for just 13 carries. Note, folks, that we’re considering a game where the Vikings held a lead into the 3rd quarter. Where was the balance on offense to protect the young passer?
As Week 11 nears, nobody knows whether J.J. McCarthy will turn into a franchise passer. I, for one, believe that he’ll get there in time. That being said, I don’t know how long it’ll take for him to drive the Vikings toward wins on a (near) weekly basis.
If Mike Sando sees a difficult progression from his national perspective, then I can’t blame him. Things have been tough, but Minnesota will be searching for a future where the adversity purifies rather than destroys its young quarterback.
