Vikings' J.J. McCarthy Saga Takes Most Embarrassing Turn Yet

Green Bay Packers fans' favorite pick in the 2024 NFL Draft may not have been one of there own. The Minnesota Vikings trading up to select J.J. McCarthy has already paid dividends for Packers faithful in terms of pure entertainment.

Reports around McCarthy at Vikings OTAs were embarrassing in May. Reports from minicamp were embarrassing in June. And now we have the most delicious update yet.

Michael Pratt is engaged in a three-way competition for the Packers' backup quarterback job with Sean Cliffor and Jacob Eason. The Packers' seventh-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft is getting his first-team reps because the team is using Jordan Love's absence from practice to give them space for a quarterback competition.

But while the 245th pick of the draft is getting the chance to prove himself, the man picked 235 picks earlier is not. J.J. McCarthy continues to be a confirmed backup for the Vikings.

We always hear teams saying they're planning to let their rookie ride the bench until they get acclimated to the intricacies of the NFL game. But that doesn't usually last very long:

So this leaves us with two possibilities:

• The Vikings are so hopeless about their chances of having any real success in 2024 that they're happy to punt an entire season.
• The Vikings genuinely think Sam Darnold gives them a better chance of winning than J.J. McCarthy.

The first situation would be absurd. If you're not going to win games anyway, why not give your young quarterback a chance to get real NFL experience? How much can watching Sam Darnold lose games really help?

The second situation is equally absurd. Why would you trade up to draft a quarterback in the top 10 picks if you think he's not better than quarterback with a career passer rating of 78.3 (a mark that would have ranked No. 30 among qualifying QBs last year — ahead of only Zach Wilson, Mac Jones and Bryce Young)?

Even if we try to remove the preconceived notion that the Vikings are a joke, what is genuinely the best argument we can come up for this? That the Vikings thing McCarthy will somehow learn better if he's not playing in real games? That he would be so bad to start out with that it would ruin his confidence and crush his development? And I guess the other is a genuine thought that Darnold gives them a better chance at winning.

None of those are good (unless you're a fan of the other three teams in the NFC North).

Either the Vikings had absolutely no reasonable plan mapped out for developing McCarthy, or he showed up this offseason and was significantly worse than they expected when they drafted him. Both of those are terrible signs for the future of that franchise, and both are possibilities you absolutely love to see if you're from Wisconsin.

This is going to be a situation that brings joy and entertainment to Packers fans all season.

Vikings Quarterback Depth Chart

1. Sam Darnold
2. J.J. McCarthy
3. Nick Mullens
4. Jaren Hall

Packers Quarterback Depth Chart

1. Jordan Love
2. Sean Clifford
3. MIchael Pratt
4. Jacob Eason

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