According to Adam Schefter, J.J. McCarthy will be \u201cforced\u201d to be the backup for Kyler Murray.<\/p>\n
ESPN\u2019s NFL insider has carried an inordinate amount of water for the Michigan Wolverines<\/a> across his time at the Worldwide Leader. Schefter, a proud Michigan Man himself, spent last year defending Moore through his downfall<\/a>, and before that, he\u2019d already cleared Moore of any wrongdoing in the program\u2019s sign-stealing scandal<\/a>.<\/p>\n So Schefter framing a bench-worthy quarterback situation<\/a> as someone getting \u201cforced\u201d into anything checks out. And while presenting the 23-year-old, who\u2019s started all of 10 NFL games across two injury-riddled seasons, as some undersving casualty of circumstance, Schefter told NFL Live viewers to \u201cwonder if he\u2019s going to be the next quarterback a la Baker Mayfield, a la Sam Darnold, a la Daniel Jones, that needs a change of scenery before he\u2019s allowed to thrive at the NFL level.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to wonder if he\u2019s going to be the next QB. \u2026 That needs a change of scenery, before he is allowed to thrive in the NFL level.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014@AdamSchefter<\/a> on what\u2019s next for J.J. McCarthy after losing the Vikings\u2019 starting QB role to Kyler Murray \ud83d\udc40 pic.twitter.com\/HBBPM1dHTP<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) August 11, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Consistency, if nothing else, is Schefter\u2019s strong suit when maize and blue are involved.<\/p>\n Now, you might be asking yourself what the hell does \u201cforced\u201d to be a backup<\/a> even mean? Because we\u2019re genuinely asking, and so, it turns out, is Ross Tucker, who was recently promoted to CBS\u2019s No. 2 NFL booth<\/a> opposite Ian Eagle.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I\u2019m not really sure what that means,\u201d Tucker said in response to Dan Patrick on The Dan Patrick Show. \u201cI guess I would just say as soon as Kyler Murray signed with the Vikings, it seemed very, very likely that he was going to be the starting quarterback in Minnesota. For a guy like Kyler to go to Minnesota for essentially the minimum \u2014 I\u2019m not going to say he had assurances he was going to play \u2014 I think he had a pretty good idea that they wanted him to play. They wanted somebody else. And also he saw what happened with Sam Darnold. He\u2019s seen other guys play well for Kevin O\u2019Connell and thought, \u2018Why can\u2019t that be me?’\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cSo, it makes a lot of sense from that standpoint,\u201d Tucker continued. \u201cWhat I find fascinating now, Dan, is sort of what happens next with J.J. McCarthy. You know, I\u2019ve seen some people speculate: do they have to trade him? Do, you know, do they make [Carson] Wentz the backup and trade McCarthy and just kind of move on? Does the organization still have some belief and faith in him? I mean, they had a lot of conviction to draft him where they did. And honestly, the Vikings should know as well as any organization that sometimes it just takes guys some time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Forced \u2018 would imply that something was taken from McCarthy that wasn\u2019t his to lose in the first place. What actually happened, per every other outlet and medium not run by a Michigan grad, is that Minnesota signed a former No. 1 overall pick for the veteran minimum, watched him take every rep with the first-team offense through camp, and handed him the job before the preseason even started. Nobody forced anything. In fact, McCarthy didn\u2019t even force a conversation. After having gone 6-4 as a starter last year while battling a torn meniscus \u2014 which forced him to miss the entire 2024 campaign \u2014 a high ankle sprain, a concussion, and a broken hand, the Vikings simply decided that wasn\u2019t the ceiling they drafted him for. And that\u2019s not an injustice as much as it is Schefter just needing an adjective big enough to make a benching sound as if it happened to him.<\/p>\n \t