JJ McCarthy is looking forward to competing in the NFL after helping Michigan win its first national title since 1997.
But, if the rumors are to be believed, he could have a long wait to see the field.
According to the NFL Notifications account on Twitter/X, the quarterback had been struggling in practice as of Wednesday. In fact, things got so bad that he received an earful from his coaches about his ball protection at some point.
McCarthy was drafted at No. 10 overall in April, with the Minnesota Vikings bringing him in as the signal-caller they hope to make the face of their franchise. But he may or may not have gotten off to a very slow start.
Interestingly, other reports don’t paint such a poor picture of McCarthy’s prospects.
He is reported to have gone 7-for-8 in seven-on-seven and 9-for-10 in teamwork earlier in the week. It should be noted, however, that he was throwing to backups while Sam Darnold trained with the starters.
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The Vikings Are Looking to Change JJ McCarthy’s Mechanics
The Vikings haven’t revealed anything indicating that their rookie is struggling but have disclosed that they are working on changing an element of his footwork.
The team wants JJ McCarthy standing with his left foot slightly forward when taking snaps out of the shotgun. That’s a different setup from the stance he used at Michigan.
“We’ve got him with the left foot up stance, which is a little different for him,” offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said earlier this week.
“So just kind of adjusting how you’re used to standing in the gun, with your left foot up or if you’re used to more of a square stance or some people are right foot up. Trying to get everybody kind of on the same page with how we do it and how it times up with all of our concepts. He’s doing well with it thus far.”
According to Kevin Seifert of ESPN, the team hasn’t ruled McCarthy out as their starter for opening week. However, they “want his ascension to be organic” rather than starting him because they don’t have a better option.
