The J.J. McCarthy Risk is Getting Riskier

Part of the issue is that Minnesota’s roster is stacked. For better or worse, the Vikings believe that the 2025 season is one where they can compete for a Super Bowl.

Sounds exciting, right?

To be sure, there’s good reason to have hope. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has spent the week fortifying his lines in an effort to give J.J. McCarthy every chance at success. The o-line should take a huge step forward and the offense’s skill is second to none. Even better, the defense should be similarly impressive after supercharging the DT spot. The risk, however, rests in who is behind McCarthy. How concerning is the QB2 spot?

J.J. McCarthy & The Risk at QB

Seeing Daniel Jones depart stung.

True, he snagged a large contract that will factor into the compensatory craziness — shout out to Nick Korte — but having him back as a high-end QB2 had a lot of appeal. Minnesota must now pivot, bringing an experienced and capable option to town.

The issue is that a lot of the league’s backup passers are getting signed, as a few have noted. Ian Rapoport, for instance, simply declared observed, “Lot of backup QB action…” Meanwhile, ESPN’s Kevin Seifert described the issue: “In the event the Vikings don’t sign Aaron Rodgers, or wait for Kirk Cousins, the list of available veteran QBs is shrinking.”

Who has been scooped up? Glad you asked.

Gardner Minshew? Gone. Jacoby Brissett? Gone. Mac Jones? Gone. Marcus Mariota? Gone. Brandon Allen? Gone. Mason Rudolph? Gone. Kyle Trask? Gone. Other examples surely exist.

Coming into free agency, the Vikings had arguably the league’s deepest quarterack position with all of Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones, J.J. McCarthy, Nick Mullens, and Brett Rypien. Goodness, even their coaching staff — Kevin O’Connell, Wes Phillips, Josh McCown — is filled with quarterbacks.

Do the Vikings need to panic? By no means, and yet they do need to act with some urgency.

The only passer on the team other than J.J. McCarthy is Brett Rypien. Rypien got into the NFL back in 2019, agreeing to an undrafted free agent deal with the Broncos. He has since spent time with the Rams, Seahawks, Jets, and Bears. In his career, Rypien has a 58.3% completion rate alongside 950 passing yards, 4 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions.

So, we’re not talking about the second coming of Dan Marino.

There are still some players out there whom Minnesota could sign. Aaron Rodgers, of course, is the largest fish swimming around, but there are concerns about bringing him aboard. So, too, have the Vikings been mentioned alongside Jameis Winston, who offers concerns, as well. On PurplePTSD, Janik Eckardt made the case for Joe Flacco.

McCarthy’s NFL experience is constrained to part of a preseason game. Otherwise, he has spent time learning the scheme and figuring out the day-to-day of NFL football. Valuable, yes, but not quite the same as on-field experience.

The doomsday scenario is that he gets hurt once again — fingers crossed he has a long, healthy career — and Minnesota isn’t prepared. A scenario could also occur where he isn’t quite ready in the same way that Jayden Daniels was ready (few are, Daniels was magnificent). In that case, a veteran stopgap would have been a prudent pickup.

J.J. McCarthy, 22, is Minnesota’s future at quarterback. Quite possibly, he’s the present, as well. Solidifying the game’s most important position, though, would be a prudent move. The roster is too deep and talented to risk a season that gets undermined by subpar quarterback play.

Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.

K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on social media (Bluesky & Twitter). If you feel so inclined, subscribe to his Substack, The Vikings Gazette, for more great Vikings content.