The Vikings can be patient with QB J.J. McCarthy

While he was taken in the first round, the Vikings are in a position to take their time with their rookie quarterback

Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy misses the trophy to celebrate 34-13 win over Washington at the / Junfu Han/USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY

The Vikings can be patient with QB J.J. McCarthy

1. The trade-up demand faltered after Drake Maye went third overall in the 2024 NFL Draft
2. The Vikings will be patient with J.J. McCarthy
3. What tools McCarthy brings to the NFL
4. Where McCarthy has room for improvement

After Kirk Cousins walked to the Atlanta Falcons in free agency, the Minnesota Vikings landed on Michigan's J.J. McCarthy in the 2024 NFL Draft to replace him after failing to trade up for Drake Maye. And they may just find themselves in the position to take their time getting him ready to play at the NFL level.

Discussing McCarthy and what he brings to the Vikings, the Daft on Draft Podcast spend a considerable amount of time on the quarterback who provided quite the talking points leading up to the 2024 NFL Draft.

The Daft on Draft Podcast scouting series begins today... First up: @QBKlass!

Defining "arm talent," contextualizing accuracy, and more, Derrik and I talk about the important details of evaluating quarterbacks.

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You can find the full audio on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Parsing out just the topics on McCarthy, however, here were the major talking points:

The trade-up demand faltered after Drake Maye went third overall in the 2024 NFL Draft

"I had an inkling and I tweeted this out before the draft, like, the Chargers sitting at five, Cardinals sitting at four. I really didn't think teams were going to be as willing to make phone calls and trade up with them as all the hype we got, like, "oh no, we're going to see four quarterbacks taking in four picks." Outside of those top three: Williams, Daniels, Maye, I didn't think anybody was trading up significant assets to get a J.J. McCarthy, a Michael Penix Jr., or a Bo Nix. And they didn't, right? They didn't."

The Vikings will be patient with J.J. McCarthy

"But with J.J., I do like that he's 21, man. I do like that you don't have to start right away. They're paying Sam Darnold $10 million a year. Follow the money. J.J. McCarthy, unless it goes horribly, which it's Sam Darnold and he has no track record to prove that he deserved a $10 million contract, right? So like, unless it goes terribly, which it could... I don't think J.J. McCarthy's going to see the field this year. So you give him an opportunity to learn from Kevin O'Connell, from Sam Darnold, I guess, whatever he could learn from Sam Darnold, to kind of feed the things that he didn't do well at Michigan."

What tools McCarthy brings to the NFL

"I think the tools are there. The arm talent is definitely there. He can throw with a ton of velocity, he needs to learn to throw with some touch. But again, if we're talking about translating to an NFL offense, maybe he's the closest one. But even then, they're running heavy personnel, tons of gap power, like play action off of gap power. So like, yeah, the Vikings are going to do some of that same stuff, right? But again, how much can you put on his plate early on? He didn't have a whole lot on his plate his entire college career. Yeah, he lost one college game. I don't know if that's, I mean, that's kind of box score scouting. It's kind of QB wins. It's something I don't really subscribe to, but I do like McCarthy's arm. I do like his ability to throw off a platform, to create outside of structure every once in a while. I wish I saw him do a little bit more within the structure of the play, right? He has some good numbers on third and long. I think that's promising data."

Where McCarthy has room for improvement

"But in terms of accuracy, I think a lot of it has to do with his feet, which is coachable... he can't throw to his left. Yeah, because he's swinging his gate wide open. The deep ball accuracy is very concerning. Deep ball accuracy is very concerning to me. It was the worst in the class that I charted. So we'll see if some foot stuff does just fix that as well. But there's no doubt in my mind, he can drive the football, he can throw the football hard. But when he is forced to push the ball outside the numbers and down the field, can he put the ball where it needs to be? And then more importantly, when he needs to layer a throw, when he needs to put the ball over a defender, or needs to take a couple months, throw a change up, can he throw the change up? Instead of just throwing fastballs, four seamers, every time he's throwing the football, right? So those are some things that, some reasons for optimism, some reasons for, I'm a little skeptical."