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00:00JJ McCarthy was the ultimate winner in high school, the ultimate winner in college, still
00:08a young player.
00:09It's not just coming to the league like it's Chris Wanky at 26 or 27.
00:12Very early, I believe 20, maybe 21 years old, we'd have a long, long list of what he could
00:18certainly accomplish in the NFL if he became a starting quarterback, which were the expectations
00:22of a first round pick.
00:23The only shocking thing when we were starting to see like some of the depth charts coming
00:27out was would JJ McCarthy be the starting quarterback right away for the Minnesota Vikings?
00:31But one thing I do know is if we were talking to Jim Harbaugh, his previous head coach at
00:36the University of Michigan, who's now the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, what
00:40was he saying?
00:41Maybe the best winner he's ever been around at the quarterback position.
00:44And I started joking, okay, you know what?
00:46Maybe they'll trade Justin Herbert because they want JJ McCarthy.
00:49Obviously, we knew that wasn't going to be feasible for the Chargers.
00:52So he does wind up with the Minnesota Vikings, which was intriguing.
00:55Other teams may be looking around to get him like the New York Giants, just to say,
00:59you know what?
01:00We need a winner here.
01:01Commanding the pocket, commanding the huddle, being a leader of men.
01:04And you saw him in that first preseason game.
01:07The ability to throw the deep ball, the ability to run an offense, the ability to handle the
01:11football team without starters and still look competent.
01:14That's a big deal for a rookie quarterback.
01:15But also keep in mind, you were operating here from a quarterback that opened up his
01:20preseason with an interception and it didn't shake him one bit.
01:24You love to see that.
01:26You want to see the adversity here.
01:27You want to see the kid want to succeed and have a terrible start to your preseason in
01:31your first NFL action and then rebound with that type of performance.
01:35If you watch the game live or just watch the highlights, Justin Jefferson didn't play.
01:38He was in street clothes on the sideline, running up and down the sideline, miked up
01:42knowing that JJ McCarthy was ripping off deep ball after deep ball and probably saying,
01:47you know what?
01:48I think we found ourselves a franchise guy.
01:50Didn't have any words for the wear after the game, but the next day shows up back to training
01:54camp.
01:56Hey coach, something is wrong with my knee.
01:58They check him out here, goes under the knife and there could have been instances where
02:01he would be out, let's just say four to six weeks, four to seven weeks, four to eight
02:04weeks, something in that range.
02:06Now it turns out they open it up and figure it was best to do a full reconstruction of
02:10that meniscus and JJ McCarthy now is going to be out for the season.
02:14Now me as a handicapper, was I high on the Minnesota Vikings in the 2024 season coming
02:19into it?
02:20Not necessarily, but we told you repeatedly when you're drafting that high and getting
02:23a quarterback in the first round, your record really doesn't matter during that season unless
02:27it's like the Green Bay Packers and what they had luckily over the past 20 to 25 years with
02:32Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre and Jordan Love where it's like, you know what?
02:35We expect to be good.
02:36We're just drafting a quarterback for down the line.
02:38The Minnesota Vikings weren't drafting a quarterback for down the line.
02:41They were drafting JJ McCarthy because they believe he could be the starting quarterback
02:45from day number one and quite frankly, it looked like he might even be on that trajectory.
02:49Now granted, when you take a look at the schedule, the perfect landing spot for JJ
02:53McCarthy, honestly, maybe would have been game number one at the New York Giants on
02:57that schedule.
02:58But then San Francisco 49ers, the Houston Texans, the Green Bay Packers, a neutral site
03:04game against the New York Jets in London before you hit that bye week and then take on the
03:10Detroit Lions who have playoff and Super Bowl aspirations here.
03:13So when was going to be that perfect time if Sam Darnold did start at quarterback?
03:17Would it have been after the bye and also with the injury itself to JJ McCarthy?
03:21Maybe you were saying that, okay, the pressure's off the organization, the pressure's off the
03:26coach and also your young quarterback in JJ McCarthy where he could find a landing spot
03:31after injury somewhere around weeks 9, 10, 11 or 12 if you were not technically in the
03:37playoff hunt.
03:38It would have been a great spot because he still would have been around the football
03:40team still able to get back on the practice field.
03:43But now when you enter into the IR, you're done for the season.
03:46You're basically off of the practice field and that whole rookie season is a scrap.