What Does Vikings' Hire of Josh McCown Indicate About Their QB Plans?

Should we read anything into the Vikings hiring Josh McCown?

Will Ragatz | Feb 29, 2024

In this story:

Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings recently hired former longtime NFL journeyman QB Josh McCown to be their quarterbacks coach. As far as assistant coach additions go, it's a pretty fascinating and noteworthy hire for Kevin O'Connell and Minnesota. So what, if anything, should we read into this move?

The Vikings already had a well-liked quarterbacks coach in Chris O'Hara, who had a strong relationship with Kirk Cousins and a history with O'Connell dating back to their stops in Washington and Los Angeles. Still, they jumped at the opportunity to hire McCown, choosing to shift O'Hara's role to pass game specialist.

And why not? McCown has nearly two decades of experience playing quarterback in the league, previously interviewed for the Texans' head coaching position multiple times, and seemingly has a good chance to become an offensive coordinator someday. The hope for the Vikings is that McCown can be for their quarterback room what Keenan McCardell has been for their wide receiver room.

McCown shares an agent with Cousins and could certainly be an asset for him if the Vikings end up re-signing him. Speculatively, though, you just get the sense that McCown wasn't hired to coach Cousins, he was hired to help the Vikings draft and develop a rookie quarterback this year. Last year, he was the quarterbacks coach for the Panthers and No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young (whose tough debut season can't be pinned on McCown).

It's worth noting, of course, that in 2019, while playing for the Eagles, McCown was also an assistant coach at Myers Park High School in Charlotte, NC. His sons Owen and Aiden were on the roster at the time. So was Drake Maye, who went on to star at UNC and become a consensus top-three pick in this year's draft. If Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels are the first two picks in April, will the Vikings make an aggressive move up to 3 to reunite Maye with McCown?

Even if isn't Maye and the Vikings draft J.J. McCarthy or Michael Penix Jr. or Bo Nix, having McCown as a coach and mentor would be extremely valuable for a young quarterback. He's seen and done it all as an NFL QB.

Maybe Cousins ends up back in Minnesota — anything is possible. But this McCown hire just feels like a move the Vikings make because they're finally ready to draft a quarterback in the first round and enter a new era.