The Minnesota Vikings will be entering the next era of their football team after retooling their offense during the 2024 NFL Draft.
The Vikings were one of the most quarterback-needy teams in the league after they saw Kirk Cousins walk in free agency to the Atlanta Falcons.
Minnesota was the team most likely to trade up in the draft to take one of the highly-touted quarterback prospects, and they only ended up needing to jump up one spot from No. 11 to No. 10 to take Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
McCarthy was considered to be a fast riser up draft boards and was projected to go higher, but fell all the way down to a spot where the Vikings felt like they needed to make a move.
The former Wolverine is coming off a strong season where he led the team to a CFP Championship over Michael Penix Jr. and the Washington Huskies.
While most analysts praised the pick, LeSean McCoy believes Minnesota should be considered one of the biggest losers of the draft, via Dov Kleiman on Twitter.
LeSean McCoy says the #Vikings are the biggest losers of the draft for taking JJ McCarthy:
“What shows you that JJ McCarthy can win games for you with his arm. Watching his tape, nothing jumps off saying we have to add this dude.”
(h/t @StateOfHoppy)
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) May 2, 2024
McCoy’s main argument in the clip is that McCarthy was insulated by a strong running game and defense and wasn’t asked to throw the football in clutch situations as much.
This was the biggest knock on him during the draft process, too, but he did show off his arm talent at the NFL Combine.
For now, it’ll be interesting to see if McCoy is right about McCarthy’s NFL future.
