Matthew Coller·
"J.
J. McCarthy last year out of 45 qualifying quarterbacks, was 42nd in quarterback rating and has the same quarterback rating through 10 games as Christian Ponder did. And this matters. That doesn't mean it's impossible for J. J. McCarthy to outplay Murray, to convince everyone he's the guy and they would love that since they drafted him. But at the same time, it just seems unlikely that they would look at only some practice reps and then say, oh, okay, we're good now and you’re our quarterback." "Every other quarterback that played with Justin Jefferson when they targeted Jefferson essentially turned into an MVP, except for J. J. McCarthy, who struggled mightily to find Jefferson. And the reason is that so much has to be built around timing when you have that much attention. So Kirk Cousins was a great timing quarterback, and Sam Darnold's a great anticipation thrower, whereas JJ McCarthy kind of throws bullets. And I think it was hard for him with the timing. Plus, Jefferson is a very unique route runner. Like, he doesn't run routes like a Stefon Diggs or a smaller receiver, and he's kind of a freight train, but he's so bendy that he can snap off these routes so quickly at NFL speed. It's, you know, crazy to adapt to, I think, for someone who had never played before in McCarthy." "There was almost a yips to it when it came to JJ McCarthy getting him [Jefferson] the football.... JJ McCarthy had the second-lowest completion percentage over expected last year in the entire NFL, which tells you just how much was left on the table." "In the second half of the season, they just stopped throwing. I mean, J. J. McCarthy was only throwing about 23 passes per game down the stretch last year. I think you're going to have more than that when it comes to Kyler Murray."