How high is Minnesota Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy’s ceiling? | THE HERD NFL w/ Colin Cowherd

How high is Minnesota Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy’s ceiling? | THE HERD NFL w/ Colin Cowherd

Well, it’s that time of the year when you hear things, some good, some bad. Fan bases get very mad at reporters, when they don’t give you uh rainbows and birds chirping and a pot of gold at the end of every uh uh little video clip. Diana Rousini knows that all too well. Senior NFL insider for the Athletic, covering the NFL for a decade now. So, I I I started my show today saying, “Listen, these video clips, they all mean something. They all mean something.” Um, but I’m going to start with Micah Parsons. So, he said, “I don’t want to be a cowboy anymore.” Um, that’s pretty drastic. You know what’s funny? Because he was the 12th pick, he’s actually still a top five or six cap hit for a defensive end. Like, he’s he’s been well compensated. It’s not like Terry McLaren where he’s wildly overproduced for his draft spot, never made big money, and he’s a he’s a Pro Bowl level, Hall of Fame level player. Were you surprised that Micah said, “I’m done being a Cowboy.” Did it surprise you? No, because it’s one of those things you talk about how you you hear things. Um I had heard early last week that Micah had in his draft folder this letter. So I had spoken to some people with other teams and apparently it was out there that come the second week or third week of training camp something was going to go down that they were going to make a bold move. And Friday afternoon was that bold move. Colin, even even Friday morning, I had reported that the relationship between Jerry Jones and Micah Parsons was so damaged that a trade could be on the table. And I mean, everyone responded wildly because you don’t ask for Dallas Cowboy players don’t ask for trades, right? That doesn’t happen. We see it almost in every other organization. Just you don’t do that. Everyone wants to be a Dallas Cowboy because of what it provides you as a player, not just when you are currently, you know, playing the game of football with the star in your helmet, but life afterwards. Um, so few hours later, Micah posts the note. And look, I I think it was stunning just because it’s unheard of there, but in terms of the negotiations and where they’re at, Michael laid it out pretty well and and you know, most people know what happened here with the conversation that he thought was just discussing numbers and a contract between the owner and him, not some binding deal that was going to be um permanent, you know. So then of course when his agent finds out about this he’s like we’re no you’re not negotiating with Jerry Jones. We’re doing this now a lot of people have been pushing back on well Micah had that conversation with with Jerry right like he chose to discuss it. He he sat there. He’s a grown man. He understands what’s happening. Um and so I asked somebody in the league about Dak. Like how did Dak handle that? you know, because Jerry’s known to do this, to go to his star players and talk about a deal, whether it’s Zack Martin, Tony Roman, we’ve heard tons of stories of him doing this. Um, and Dax said, “I’ll talk to you, but I’m not talking numbers. Call Todd France, my agent. Call my agent.” Right? So, Micah had an opportunity to do that, but he didn’t do it. Um, and so I think that’s the Cowboys perspective on this of it’s not like we held you to the fire and say your feet to the fire and say you must do this. you want to engage with us. Um whereas of course the Micah Parson side of it, you know what that is in terms of just my agent needs to be part of this and and because of that to me this is Jerry versus Micah. Um as extreme as as extreme as it comes. So here’s the thing. Um, it’s not that I haven’t been burned by a source in my life because sometimes people get bad information, but by and large I trust people and I’ve had many of the same pro football sources for a long time. And what I hear about JJ McCarthy isn’t what I hear like the the sometimes reported. there is this almost protective bubble or sort of an elevation of what he’s doing and it’s not what I’m hearing that there are real concerns from last year on and again I so my stuff is running counter to mostly what I hear I mean I I I’m not asking you to divulge everything but I I feel like in this one I and I said this before the draft I wasn’t hearing teams were rushing to get JJ McCarthy I knew two teams teams that wanted to move up for Michael Penn. I knew one that wanted to move up for Drake May. Uh I didn’t hear anybody moving up for Bon Knicks. Shawn Peyton loved him and and and that’s about he felt the way he should. But what I’m hearing on JJ McCarthy would not instill confidence. Do I have a bad source? I mean, what do you make of the whole elevation of these stories that, hey, he’s be patient, he’s hitting it. Where are we on that? Well, first let’s go with what I can tell you. Alec Lewis, the Athletic Vikings reporter, shares with me because I talk to him pretty regularly and it it sounds like it’s just up and down, right? So, there’s some good, there’s some bad. So, you know, to that idea that like bad clips don’t mean anything. I’m with you. It means something. Uh, you know, uh, at the same time, I’ve had coaches tell me when when I used to be more of a beat reporter that sometimes you don’t even know what we’re doing. There’s a reason why we’re doing the certain things that we’re doing and you guys are just not informed. But but that being said, I think what you’re pointing to, it sounds like what you’ve noticed is maybe something that I’ve noticed too, is there there is a lot of lifting up of JJ McCarthy, right? And and and some of that’s good because you want to give this young quarterback coming off a very serious injury who obviously struggled with sitting out, right? We saw the fact that he lost all that weight and I know the Vikings don’t want to make a big thing of that because that just is part of the process of dealing with a significant injury, but it’s also difficult to be sitting there when you’re supposed to be the guy and Sam Darnold’s out there at one point looking like the star of the show, right? And then you have an organization who makes a decision to let Sam Darnold walk. They want to keep Daniel Jones, but they don’t want to pay what Daniel Jones wants because Daniel Jones wants to be the guy, right? Those guys left Minnesota for a reason. Because it was made very clear to them, no matter what, JJ McCarthy is the guy. So, what is it? Is it because Kevin Oonnell truly believes that JJ is this superb Q who’s going to come in here and turn this organization around and where they finally got their guy? I mean, possibly. Is it just because of what they did in the draft for him? Is it because they made these moves to get JJ McCarthy, is there an ownership um influence here? So there there’s always a lot of factors to the to your point, but I think to just s succinctly answer your question, do I think JJ McCarthy is wowing everyone at training camp? No, I don’t. I think he’s fine. I still think Justin Jefferson told me what I needed to know when he spoke to the media before his injury and was like essentially everyone needs to slow down here. Like he is still learning and and we have to be able to give him some of this grace here. So while yes, I get why the organization is going, “Oh my gosh, JJ McCarthy.” If you follow anything Vikings related, you would think this guy is is the next biggest quarterback to play and I think they’re going to be disappointed because there’s going to be a natural period of time where he’s just got to catch up and feel comfortable in this offense. So, u I’m I’m with you. I’m just I’m not bought in all the way. I just think there’s just going to be some time here before we can get to a point where we can have a serious conversation here and go, is he the guy or not? Now, it’s different than when I was in Denver, right? There there there’s no question mark who Bon Knicks is, what he is, how they believe in him. They’re doing the same stuff of building him up, but there’s more proof there, right? We’ve seen it. We’ve seen the talent. And even having conversations with Bonix, you hear it. You hear the confidence. You You can understand that he’s taking a step forward here in getting what he’s being asked of from Shawn Payeyton. By the way, it’s interesting. Last year, uh, Dan Quinn was, uh, just overwhelmingly impressed with Jaden Daniels. Coaches kind of suppress, uh, comments in camp. So, you knew Jaden Daniels was something. It was the same thing with Andrew Luck. You know, when I I forget the coach, was it Pagano or Bruce Arens, whoever it was, they were just saying, “Oh, this Andrew Luck kid from Stanford. This is insane.” Shawn Payeyton, from what I can tell, can’t help himself with this Denver roster. I mean, you were there. I mean, he is. I think he loves this team and I don’t think it’s false optimism. You just spent time with him. Yeah. I think that’s a good point to be made though, right? Like some coaches are just gonna yell at you to tell you how great their team is because there’s actually nothing there, right? And they’re just it’s almost like hope. I I don’t get that sense from Shawn who who’s really smart with the media. He he’s got his finger on the pulse of all his locker rooms from over the years going back to his days uh in New Orleans. He knows what his team needs and he knows that there’s some young players here and Bo is young and developing and granted I know he’s 25 and he’s got five years of college experience but this next step is big for him and so I do think there’s a little bit of Shawn pumping him up uh to let Bo know like I love you and you’re right he’s in love with this team. Um but for a guy that loves offense and will talk your ear off about his quarterback if he loves the guy um it’s his defense that he knows is the strength of this team. Um, even the I was there for the first day of pads and he’s like, “Oh, did did you see Greenlaw out there? Did you see him?” I’m like, “Yeah, I I saw him.” You know, because this is really the first time we’ve seen Denver h have a really good, you know, middle part of that defense. That front five is obviously ferocious. Um, Patrick Certan, the reigning defensive player of the year, they they’ve got something special and I and I know that. And, you know, Colin, I asked Patrick Certan to rank quarterbacks for me to just, you know, just give me the obvious ones that we all know. and I just want to hear where you go. And so, you know, it always gets dicey five and six, right? We we all go we all start with Patrick and Lamar and Josh and Joe and Justin, right? And then it’s like, okay, now where are we? Is it Jaylen? Is it? And and Patrick stopped me because I I was ready to go hurts and he was the one who was like, “Bonx.” I’m like, “What? What? Like, are you crazy?” Like, “Not yet.” He’s like, “Bonx, you will see.” I I practice against them every day. I’m telling you, you got to watch Bo Knicks this year. And and and most of it is just this understanding that that Knicks has in in the offense. It’s just he’s really taken that step forward of getting the why behind why everything they’re doing. Diana Rousini, senior NFL insider. I can tell you’ve been a camp. You got the nice summer tan. You’re out there working. Journalism. Journalism doesn’t have to be in a cold, dark room where we all get pale. You can get out there and get a get some vitamin D. It’s okay. This is actually this is a fun time of the in a way it’s a fun time of the year for all you guys right out there in the camps. I love it. I love it. Everyone is optimistic. Players all want to do your show. They want to talk to you. They want to discuss their their regimen, what they’re eating, what they’re planning. Just um and there’s also a lot of boredom, right? Like guys are in camp. Every day is the same. So just new faces is exciting to them. But yeah, this is the highlight. And so I’m going to lose like three shades as you know uh by November. And you know maybe we can get some fake tan deal here on the show. We’ll get a sponsored segment just you know Hollywood tans or something just to keep the glow you know. Diane great seeing you as always. All right. Appreciate you. All right, Dana Rini.

Colin Cowherd is joined by Dianna Russini to react to the latest in NFL preseason and camp rumors. They start with Micah Parsons and the Dallas Cowboys inability to make a deal. Next they talk J.J. McCarthy and whether the Minnesota Vikings should trust him. Finally they react to head coach Sean Payton’s comments about this Denver Broncos team possibly winning a Super Bowl.

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