EAGAN, Minn. — One Minnesota Vikings player has already lived through the team’s present circumstances at quarterback. Three seasons ago, Adam Thielen arrived in Carolina and rode the Panthers roller coaster alongside another young QB in real time.
Bryce Young and J.J. McCarthy are completely different players. The team Young joined and the team McCarthy took over could not be more different from a sustainability standpoint. But the similarities of the situations are undeniable. Accomplished in college. Drafted high. Heralded by the fans as the franchise’s fix. Thrown into the fire early.
Every game, every pass, every comment in the media is under the microscope. The player cares and says all the right things. But the results aren’t there. His struggles become a weekly talking point.
“Look at what Bryce is doing now,” Thielen said Monday.
He was referencing Young’s 448-yard, three-touchdown performance Sunday, which led to an overtime win over the Atlanta Falcons.
“I’m sure he’s leaning on a ton of experience from the last few years that (included) some really tough moments,” Thielen said.
Like Young, the 22-year-old McCarthy has spent most of his young life in the spotlight as a premier quarterback. And like Young, McCarthy entered the NFL without facing much on-field adversity. Tougher tests were always going to come. McCarthy put it plainly Sunday night: “Adversity is inevitable in this league. … It’s just about how you respond.”
The question now is about how quickly McCarthy can turn the tide. Young responded well enough late last season to earn another chance as the starter. McCarthy’s future might not be riding on the final seven games of the season — Young started 28 games over his first two seasons; McCarthy has started only five — but maintaining the internal belief matters.
Everything worth evaluating is happening after the snap. No, McCarthy was not helped by six drops by his receivers Sunday versus the Chicago Bears. But there is something to be said for a lack of timing and rhythm, and how that affects expectations even for some of the game’s elite receivers.
Should Jordan Addison have caught the third-and-7 deep ball in the first quarter? Absolutely. Did McCarthy make the catch more difficult by aggressively climbing the pocket and holding on to the football, forcing Addison to bend his vertical route toward the middle of the field? Yes.
Should Justin Jefferson have caught the third-and-2 dig route in the third quarter? Probably. Did McCarthy make the catch more difficult by side-stepping right guard Will Fries and sailing the pass high while off balance? Definitely.
An out-breaker to Addison didn’t hit him in stride. An out-breaker to tight end T.J. Hockenson made him lunge. An over-the-middle attempt to Thielen made him extend his arms. These players are paid to execute these plays for their young quarterback, but the inconsistent speed of McCarthy’s decisions and the wayward location of his throws cannot go unmentioned.
“Sometimes, it’s not even reads and progressions,” coach Kevin O’Connell said. “It’s simply the fundamental foundation — we need to start seeing the concrete dry a little bit on the work that’s been put in.”
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It almost sounded as if O’Connell has been working to understand why the repetition hasn’t transferred from the practice field to the games. Quarterbacks coach Josh McCown drills McCarthy on pocket movements daily. McCarthy toggles with different trajectories in warmups. Yet Sundays, when the whistle blows, he struggles to replicate what he has practiced.
How much of the disconnect is physical versus mental? It’s tough to separate the two. McCarthy’s mechanics fail him, and then he hurls the ball like he’s thinking about his mechanics failing him. His sense of timing seems off, causing him to rush his mechanics and resulting in wild passes.
Throttling up the velocity might feel like the proper choice if he’s moving slowly through his reads. Applying touch might be more difficult if pressure is being applied.
This is how you arrive at a place where McCarthy’s turnover-worthy play rate (6.1 percent) and off-target rate (15.7 percent) are the worst among all NFL starters. It’s how you get an elite receiving corps that looks like it has taken minimal reps with the man at the switch.
“That’s probably the most frustrating part of him,” O’Connell said. “It’s talked about. And repped. And practiced at length. And then, in those moments, in his fifth start, the variance to it is causing his job to be more difficult than it needs to be.”
The Young comparison is not nearly as rosy as Josh Allen, who rewired his mechanics after a rough rookie season. Thielen, though, nodded aggressively when asked whether he thinks it’s fair to link the journeys of the two. Young didn’t immediately acclimate to NFL speed. Young missed metaphorical layups. He, too, stood at a lectern after games, owning his poor play and urging himself to be better.
McCarthy, by all accounts, attacks growth. So did Young. McCarthy can handle an extensive game plan. So could Young. They’re markedly different types of throwers, and their initial offenses featured vastly different levels of talent. However, they were 22 years old and overmatched from the start.
What allowed Young to click into gear? How did the Panthers offense go from one of the league’s worst with him at the helm to a respectable operation? Their staff and locker room, unburdened by internal or external expectations, stuck with the process. It guaranteed nothing. But it gave him the best chance to succeed.
