What a McCarthy–Richardson QB Room Could Mean for the Vikings
The word around the ol’ water cooler at the office is that the Minnesota Vikings have interest in Colts QB Anthony Richardson.
I’m not gonna lie to you; the prospect of Richardson being on the Vikings is, at the very least, intriguing. Yes, the Vikings do already employ a raw quarterback with high-upside traits. Just, maybe not as much of a high upside as Richardson. Yes, I’m talking about Jonathan James McCarthy.
While McCarthy does possess a strong arm and good mobility, Richardson might just possess both to a better degree. It just so happens that both men are struggling with the mental processing part of the pro game and are both very susceptible to wildly missing their targets.
A J.J. McCarthy and Anthony Richardson Vikings QB Room
The first time I heard the news that Richardson might be in play for the Vikings, I was a bit confused.
This felt like a completely fair reaction. Seriously, why would the Vikings take on another raw QB prospect with similar deficiencies to the one they already have?
Well, head coach Kevin O’Connell and the former GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said earlier this offseason that they wanted to build a “competitive QB room” around J.J. McCarthy. Well, adding another incomplete QB that needs a lot of tender, love, and care would certainly be one strategy to achieve that vision. Is it the “best” strategy to try to have the best QB room? That’s quite debatable.
It’s hard to say this would be a better strategy than just simply signing a proven veteran QB and letting McCarthy compete with him, with the worst possible outcome being that the vet beats him in camp and McCarthy sits for a year behind him.
Or, could the Vikings just do all of the above?
Could the Vikings Go “Three Deep” in the QB Room?
It sounds crazy, but in a hypothetical scenario where Minnesota acquires Richardson from the Colts, it doesn’t mean that the QB room is complete.
Likely, it means no big trade for Kyler Murray or Mac Jones. However, it doesn’t spell the absolute end of possibility where Aaron Rodgers, Daniel Jones, Kirk Cousins, or Derek Carr still end up on the team. This would be the Vikings taking “competitive QB room” for every ounce of its meaning.
Obviously, a Richardson trade seemingly greatly decreases the odds that one of these veteran quarterbacks decides to sign a contract with the Vikings. Still, it’s a non-zero chance.
It’s hard to say where the Vikings currently stand with their room of signal-callers. To your face, Kevin O’Connell will say all the right things, like that they want to build a room “around” McCarthy and give the team a QB situation that gives them the “best chance to win”. If this were all the way true, they would make a Godfather offer to Cincinnati for Joe Burrow.
Unfortunately, we live in the real world. In this world, Joe Burrow isn’t being traded anytime relatively soon, if at all. Also in this world, the Vikings will sign or trade for a quarterback that will likely be very polarizing and divide the Vikings’ online following into even more factions than already exist.
It would be cool if McCarthy could figure it out and just bring an end to all of it. However, as I said, we live in the real world.
