Are J.J. McCarthy's struggles concerning? No doubt. Are those struggles, and the mechanical issues allegedly causing them, fixable? According to a pair of former quarterbacks, yeah, most likely.
Speaking on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday, ESPN's Dan Orlovsky and Kirk Herbstreit both offered insights into what's gone wrong with the Vikings' young quarterback.
"J.J.'s been really interesting this year because there's so many throws on tape you sit there and say, 'That is perfect. It looks perfect.' Then there's a throw that would happen, you know, five passes later, that it blows your mind how bad of a miss it is," Olovsky said.
"JJ McCarthy is having some egregious misses..
It's fixable but there's some mechanical issues they've gotta figure out" ~ @danorlovsky7 #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/i6aAUsj12x
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) November 20, 2025
McCarthy's mechanics have been under intense scrutiny, with McCarthy himself saying he has to rewire the neurological connections in his brain from years of playing the game a specific way — just not the way the Vikings are asking him to do it. Orlovsky doesn't think McCarthy is inaccurate, at least not all the time.
"I live in the world, I don't find that to be, 'You're inaccurate.' I find it to be, 'You're having some very egregious misses.' Don't get me wrong, the misses are awful and it makes no sense as to why," Orlovsky said.
Like he did in a segment on NFL Live on Wednesday, Orlovksy went into detail about the mechanical issues he sees in McCarthy's throwing motion, which he believes are causing the egregious misses. Through his first seven starts, McCarthy has a league-low 52.9 completion percentage.
"When you try to figure out, 'OK, what's going on with him?' I think you find out the mechanical inefficiencies, and the mechanical differences. I've heard Aaron (Rodgers) talk about this, that accuracy starts from the ground up. McCarthy overstrides. He's not a big dude, so when he overstrides I think the first thing you see is he is a back-to-front thrower, instead of a rotational person," said Orlovsky.
"So when you're back-to-front, I think it's always going to vary when the ball comes out of your hands. So that's why you see some of those egregious misses. I think the second thing is, you see — almost like watching a pitcher on a baseball mound — his right leg flies all the way through. ... So I think he becomes so on his front leg the weight follows through. The other thing is his shoulders are constantly flat, no matter if he's throwing the ball five yards or 25 yards. You got to have a little bit of a tilt with your front shoulder. And you see his left shoulder constantly fly open, I think that keeps him completely exposed on the front side."
Despite all of that, Orlovsky still has hope for McCarthy, saying, "I think he's just got some really fixable, but extreme mechanical things they got to figure out."
For Herbstreit, McCarthy's issues have come down to the system, and what Kevin O'Connell has asked the former 10th overall pick to do early on in his career.
"Lets remember the kind of quarterback he was at Michigan. He was not a quarterback like you see in some of these systems that run some form of a spread and the quarterback does everything, they throw it 50 times, they go as he goes," said Herbstreit. "This was an offense in college that ran the football. They were in 12 and 13 personnel, they were in 22. They ran the ball and set him up to do play action, and he did it really, really well."
"They ran the football a lot when JJ McCathy was at Michigan..
That set up the play action and he did it really well..
I think he's gonna progress and get better"@KirkHerbstreit #PMSLive https://t.co/0LDHl4M9Vu pic.twitter.com/aPq1Vz0ovm
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) November 20, 2025
During the two seasons McCarthy was Michigan's starter, he average 22.5 pass attempts per game, guiding the Wolverines to a 27-1 record. In his first five starts in the NFL, McCarthy is averaging 28 pass attempts per game. While at Michigan, he attempted 28+ passes just six times, going 5-1 in those games.
It's fair to keep in mind that McCarthy's Wolverines were often blowing out opponents, which would lead to lower passing attempts. Meanwhile, with games closer in the NFL, the higher passing load is to be expected, especially in a pass-happy system like O'Connell's.
"The one thing that I always thought is that marriage, I thought he and [O'Connell], I just thought the scheme, very similar, I thought [O'Connell] could kind of adjust his scheme to his skillset," Herbstreit said. "I still think that."
The scrutiny on McCarthy also comes down to the expectations for the Vikings coming into the season. Coming off a 14-3 season in 2024, and having the weapons Minnesota possesses on offense, it was fair to expect, and many did, that the Vikings would be competing for a playoff spot. However, with seven games remaining, the Vikings have a 4-6 record, and their playoff hopes are on life support heading into a tough road game at Green Bay on Sunday.
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"It's really hard to watch a guy develop, when you're trying to compete in the NFC North," said Herbstreit.
McCarthy's development has been hampered by injuries. First missing his entire rookie season with a knee injury, then missing several weeks this season due to an ankle sprain. It's because of those injuries, that Herbstreit says he still views McCarthy "as a rookie," despite being in his second year with Minnesota.
"Look at Caleb (Williams) last year. A lot of people were like, 'This guy's trash. Get rid of this guy, he's terrible.' Then they went out and got Ben Johnson, and he got more reps. The game's slowing down, he's starting to make better decisions," continued Herbstreit.
"How many starts does J.J. McCarthy have? Five or six starts in his career to this point? In a year where we've seen Daniel Jones, and Baker Mayfield, and Sam Darnold all kind of get things and resurrect their careers, and get in the right spot, I just think it's very premature — whether it's a guy like J.J. McCarthy or Michael Penix Jr., or whoever it might be — to look at them, and evaluate them, and make a declaration that this guy's trash, or this guy doesn't have what it takes."