Going into the 2024 NFL Draft, plenty of people expected J.J. McCarthy to go in the first round, and some even felt he was a top-10 talent. But there were also some who felt he would fall beneath the first 32 picks.

He ended up going to the Minnesota Vikings at No. 10, and after missing all of 2024 due to a meniscus injury, he finally got the opportunity to run an NFL offense earlier this month in the Vikings’ season opener versus the Chicago Bears.

But through two games, his metrics have been very poor, and he’s now nursing an ankle injury that will keep him out for at least a month.

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Commentator Colin Cowherd said that the Vikings don’t have the luxury of waiting for McCarthy to become a legitimate QB1 because of how good their roster is offensively. Daniel Kelly, a former scout for the New York Jets, responded by saying that the University of Michigan product “was grossly overhyped and overdrafted.”

In fact, Kelly wrote in December 2023 that McCarthy simply wasn’t good enough to make it as a starter in the NFL.

“The dead giveaway on game film that McCarthy is headed for the bench in the NFL is the lack of explosive plays he produced in 2023.

“I sat for hours watching McCarthy play inconsistent dink-and-dunk football (hours I’ll never get back) in the short-to-intermediate route levels. McCarthy was the No. 51 ranked college QB in passing yards (espn.com). The problem with inconsistent dink-and-dunk football is too much can go wrong, drives breakdown, and that’s what losing is all about in the NFL.

“I charted 12 deep passing attempts in 13 games, and half of those were completed (one even got tipped up in the air by a Bowling Green defender). One of the deep incompletions turned into an interception.”

Kelly tabbed him as a fifth-round talent, even though he led the Wolverines to the NCAA championship that winter and threw for 2,991 yards, 22 touchdowns and four interceptions while completing a Big Ten-high 72.3% of his pass attempts that season.

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With the Wolverines, McCarthy played in a run-heavy offense under then-coach Jim Harbaugh. Plenty of other scouts wondered if he could thrive in the type of pass-heavy offenses that the NFL favors.

Minnesota will now have to see if veteran backup Carson Wentz, assuming he fills in at QB1, can help it improve its 1-1 record. In the meantime, it’s back to the drawing board for the 2023 Big Ten Quarterback of the Year.

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