Is McCarthy long for Minnesota?
Mike Florio and Michael Holley are both eyeing the situation in Minnesota as J.J. McCarthy could be on the outs.
Video Transcript
If I'm not mistaken, before the 2024 draft, I think the Vikings wanted to move up and, and draft Drake May.
I know the Vikings and Giants, I think, both wanted Drake May 'cause they didn't think they'd get those, They, they would get to the top two spots.
They didn't think they'd get, Caleb Williams, obviously, and they didn't think they'd get Jayden Daniels.
I think both teams were interested in Drake May.
And, and for, for McCarthy and the Vikings, I think it speaks to this, and I, I don't wanna put words in anybody's mouth.
I don't wanna say, "Hey, this was your evaluation."
We don't know unless they show us, "Hey, this is what I wrote.
Th-th- look at my write-up on J.J.
McCarthy."
But it appears that somebody thought, maybe it was O'Connell, maybe it was Adolfo Mensah, somebody thought that you could take a college fastball pitcher, J.J. McCarthy, and turn him into a pro craftsman, a cro- a pro pitcher, who, with multiple angles and pitches, and You can't.
I mean, sometimes you can, but it looks like th- that's what he is.
He, he throws, he throws 99 to 102 all the time.
Sometimes, hey, work in an off-speed pitch.
Work in a slider.
Nope.
He's got all fastballs, and that's just That, that projection, if they thought that, that he could project from what he was in college to something different in the pros, that, that was a big miss.
He may be a good quarterback in a different system, but for the Vikings, as you pointed out, th-th-th- that's not gonna work.
He'll, he'll never be that.
I just don't think that he's wired that way to say, "All right, I need to, take something off here, and, I'm gonna feather this thing in there."
That, that's not really his game.
Never has been.
And the other reality is we sit 34 days away from the start of the 2026 draft, and you don't hear many voices who are willing to say this, because how dare you, how dare you suggest that not any, not all of the players who are taken, in round one especially, will become superstars and Hall of Famers.
How dare you point out that the bust rate is 50/50?
And there's a chance that there's guys that plenty of teams would have taken 10th overall in the 2024 draft.
Plenty of teams would have taken McCarthy.
You don't find out until it's time to get to work, and that's what the Vikings have found out.
Now they gotta make their plans accordingly, and the worst thing you can do, worst thing you can do is double down on a mistake.
If you made a mistake, you admit it and you move on.
If you double down, you're only gonna make it worse.
Once you have enough to come to a conclusion, it is a ruthless, unforgiving sport.
It is big boy, top of the stack football.
You have got to be willing to move on, and for the player that doesn't make it, th-there are millions of guys that'd love to play in the NFL, and there is a, a very high bar, and if you're not good enough, you're not gonna be there.
It's that simple.
Who, who is it that said, "NFL stands for not for long"?
Jerry Glanville.
NFL stands for not for long, if you keep that up, and it may be not for long for McCarthy and Minnesota, Will.
