Report: Michigan QB JJ McCarthy has 'fans' in Minnesota
Josh Dobbs may not have just saved the Vikings season with his off-the-bench heroics but he also may have opened some eyes to the possibilities of a dual-threat quarterback in the Vikings' offense. Reportedly, there are "fans" in the Vikings front office about a potential mobile QB prospect.
"I heard there are fans of J.J. McCarthy in Eagan," said KSTP's Darren Wolfson on the Tuesday's Mackey & Judd Show.
Coming off the bench, after being with the Vikings for just four days, Dobbs went 20-of-30 for 158 yards and two touchdowns while adding 66 yards rushing including an 18-yard touchdown run in Minnesota's improbable win over Atlanta on Sunday.
The journeyman QB was forced out of the pocket on a number of occasions Sunday and showed off his improvisational skills to keep the Vikings offense moving.
His ability to avoid and escape pressure is something Kirk Cousins hasn't brought to the table in his six seasons with the Vikings, who after starting 1-4 have won four straight to move out of the tank for Caleb Williams conversation into the playoff picture. But that doesn't mean their 2024 QB plan is solved.
Could Cousins re-sign and come back healthy from the Achilles? Sure.
Could Josh Dobbs win over the front office and secure an extension? Sure.
Could the Vikings still look to draft a QB in the first round? It's possible.
McCarthy is thought to be a first-round prospect with The Athletic's Dane Brugler placing the Michigan QB as his 16th best prospect, and third best QB, on the latest edition of his 2024 big board.
"Two months after entering the season as my QB3, McCarthy (1,799 yards passing, 21 total TDs) hasn’t done anything to surrender that spot. He is completing 78.1 percent of his passes with an 18-to-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio, while doing some of his best work on the move," Brugler wrote last week.
The junior QB put up 335 passing yards in a 41-13 win against Purdue last weekend, displaying his movement to extend plays a number of times throughout the game. McCarthy has the highest passing grade (91.4) among all qualified QBs in 2023, according to Pro Football Focus.
"The 6-3, 202-pound passer is a play-action master and excels on rollouts and moving pockets. That'd fit with Minnesota coach Kevin O'Connell just fine," wrote ESPN's Matt Miller in a late-August mock draft in which he predicted McCarthy to the Vikings.
In play-action this season, McCarthy has thrown for 647 yards while completing 83.7% of his passes, good for the second-highest play-action completion percentage in college football.
The Vikings are likely to be too competitive to be high enough up in the draft to take either Caleb Williams or Drake Maye, but they could be on the clock with McCarthy still available when the 2024 draft takes place.
