Where does McCarthy need to improve in 2026?
Mike Florio and Chris Simms discuss Rob Brzezinski's comments on J.J. McCarthy, discussing where the quarterback needs to improve for the Minnesota Vikings in 2026.
Video Transcript
Speaking of Kirk Cousins and the team he used to be with, J.J. McCarthy now the starter for the Vikings with an asterisk.
GM Rob Brzezinski, who isn't really the interim GM, he's just kind of the guy who's in charge of the front office because they fired GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah so late that they had to And I think they knew what they were doing.
I think that was part of the plan.
"We don't have to go hire a GM.
Let's just hold this together with what we have, and we'll figure out the GM after the draft."
Yeah.
"Let's- we have an idea of what we need.
Let's let Kevin O'Connell influence this."
Maybe we should've been listening more to Kevin O'Connell like last year when he was saying, "We can't let Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones walk away, and say no thank you to Aaron Rodgers."
It can't be J.J. McCarthy, Sam Howell, and Brett Rypien.
It just can't be those three.
So I think that the Vikings understand that, and Rob Brzezinski spoke to reporters yesterday and acknowledged that J.J. McCarthy has had obviously unfortunate situations with injuries, but as Brzezinski said, "We need a level of baseline quarterback play for us to be effective," and they haven't been there.
One thing that somebody told me, somebody who's embedded with the Vikings: J.J. McCarthy never throws the ball away.
He threw the ball away four times last year.
That's interesting.
Interesting.
And Caleb Williams threw it away 40 times.
Yeah, yeah.
And Carson Wentz wasn't throwing the ball away, either- Right as evidenced by getting his shoulder blown up against the Cleveland Browns.
Right.
And that was it for him.
Right.
Well, they- But they gotta teach him how to- Yeah and he's gotta learn how to live to play another day.
Yeah, I, I don't think there There's no doubt about that.
He's gonna learn how to play, have to learn to play a, a different way, no question.
I think the other thing on top of that, that offense kind of breeds holding the ball just a little bit because they do pass protect well.
They throw the ball down the field really consistently.
I mean, when Minnesota drops back to pass, they're looking for 15, 20, 25-yard completions.
They teach their quarterbacks to sit in the pocket, hold the pocket, wait, here's a guy coming open 20 yards down the field.
The second guy is 25 yards down the field, and I do think that lends the quarterbacks to hold the ball a little too long.
So yeah, he's gotta, he's gotta learn that.
But as we talked about before, they gotta bring somebody in there to protect their football team.
One, if he gets hurt, because injury history now is a real thing with him, and you gotta worry about that.
And we know he's not the thickest, strongest guy in the world.
He's got still a young body that way.
And then two, you need a guy in there that's gonna push him, you know, on the football field every day.
That's why I said Kyler, Kyler Murray could be the right touch of just, just enough scariness, right?
Where you'd go, "Holy cow, man, that's an unbelievable throw.
Holy crap, did he look fast running around the edge right there!"
That could be just the hot poker he needs there, but obviously needs that and needs the experience, too, to do some of the things you're talking about.
Trade for Mac Jones, we've discussed that possibility.
Trade for Jameis Winston is a possibility.
Those are two guys that would welcome the opportunity to compete with J.J. McCarthy, 'cause they're currently in spots where they're not, they're, they're not competing with anyone.
No, they're not gonna get a chance.
They're clearly number two.
That's why Kyler Murray's camp let out, "Oh, he's got his eye on Minnesota."
Like, because he's looking at it going, you know, "Where's there blood in the water?"
And there's blood in the water in Minnesota.
But that one already was there.
Yeah, yeah.
That's a place where- Right, right Murray wants to play for Kevin O'Connell.
That was already there.
But it does make sense now- Yeah, right, right because he's got an opportunity to be the starter- at a time where when you look around the league, there's no other obvious spot.
Although I like Atlanta.
I like Atlanta a lot.
You, you know what I'm saying there, right?
Yeah.
And he, he- Whether it's Tyson Bagent, we were talking about that as a possible trade.
Yeah, right.
Kyler Murray, whatever the case may be, it's gonna be a great spot for a quarterback.
Yeah.
It's gonna be an attractive spot for a quarterback because of all the weapons they have- Yeah and the defense they have.
And I think you and I both know, there's, there's a few teams that are They're looking for, they're looking for a holdover quarterback.
The- they are.
The draft is not great, right?
It's not gonna be the year where there's gonna be a ton of quarterbacks.
We're not gonna see four You know, three quarterbacks in the top 15 picks.
That's not happening.
So that's where it's a little bit of a different year, and we know it's Fernando Mendoza, and as it sits here right now, he stands alone.
I still sit here and tell you that I think Ty Simpson is gonna have a little bit more of a say than I think people realize when, when some of the real decision-makers start to get into it.
I'm not saying he's perfect, but when you watch Ty Simpson's best games, you'll sit there and go, "Ooh, I- that's, that's every bit as good as anybody you're gonna see," as, Fernando Mendoza, whatever.
I mean, his good games before he got beat up late in the year, as I've said to people here just over the last few days, I mean, after week seven of the college football season, I was on that damn college football show on Saturdays going, "Ty Simpson's the MVP.
Ty Simpson's the best player in college football."
Every week I would sit there and watch that.
But it is a different year altogether, and it does seem like right now, at least in the NFL eyes, it's Fernando Mendoza, there's a little cliff, then there's Ty Simpson, and then there's a bigger cliff, and a bunch of other guys behind that.
There is an open question- as to whether or not Simpson makes it into round one.
Yeah.
And it could be a Jaxson Dart type of a situation, where we get to the bottom of round one, and somebody- Right trades back in- Right to try to get him, get the five-year contract that goes along with it before he falls into round two.
I hear you.
But clearly, Mendoza, then I agree with you, Simpson is emerging as the second guy, but will it be round one?
Will it be round two?
We will find-
