This past offseason, the Minnesota Vikings had a difficult QB decision on their hands: Stick with QB Sam Darnold, who helped the team get to the playoffs, or go with the former first-round pick J.J. McCarthy, who was out for the year with an injury. Ultimately, the Vikings opted for the young, high-risk but high-potential option.
When healthy, McCarthy has had an extremely inconsistent season so far, and although the highs are impressive, the lows are concerning. The potential is clearly there, but some development needs to happen, and from the WRs’ perspective, a Vikings Legend gives his input on what is happening with McCarthy.
Legend Randy Moss Provides His Input on McCarthy’s Play
Being one of the greatest WRs of all time, when Randy Moss provides his input, it is smart to listen. In addition, when the former Vikings pass catcher speaks his mind about the team in Minnesota, it means a bit more. In this case, Moss shares his opinion on what is happening with McCarthy.
He emphasized the coach’s role to bring McCarthy to his full potential. First, Moss pointed out the problem with the young quarterback, saying, “There comes a point of time in games where he (McCarthy) escapes the pocket, the offense is right there ready to catch the ball… But he is giving him a fast ball.”
He added, “So I think there are some little things to be able to clean up because we’ve been talking about what Ben Johnson has cleaned up in Caleb William. Now it’s time for Kevin O’Connell to clean up his young J.J. McCarthy.”
.@RandyMoss breaks down what Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy needs to do to succeed ✍️ pic.twitter.com/sl6CHQEHHL
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) November 16, 2025
One of the main points Moss emphasized was the importance of being patient with McCarthy and sticking with him to develop. He possesses the potential, athletic upside, and confidence that any coaching staff or franchise would look for. The little things are where he needs to work on.
As Moss said, understanding the arm strength to use in situations where McCarthy does not need to throw a bullet to the receiver needs to improve, but this is something that can be fixed with time. The more snaps McCarthy plays, the more he will understand this.
Minnesota has a highly talented head coach (Kevin O’Connell), and his system is extremely QB-friendly. The Vikings are the perfect team for McCarthy to develop, but regarding this season, the odds of Minnesota making the playoffs are extremely low.
This team is currently last in the NFC North with a 4-5 record, which isn’t too far behind first place. However, according to PFSN’s QB Impact Metric, in the four games McCarthy has played, he has ranked as follows: No. 28, No. 32, No. 24, and No. 22.
Even the Vikings’ offense is not doing great this season, ranking 27th currently with an impact score of 66.4 according to PFSN’s Offense Impact. This is not good enough, and although the Vikings are 2-2 in these games, expecting them to turn the season around is a long shot.