Anthony Richardson Saga Highlights the Vikings’ Luxury With J.J. McCarthy
Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports
Kevin O’Connell has the self-acknowledged reputation of a “Quarterback Killer,” but even though he’ll be at the scene of Anthony Richardson’s first game being benched for Joe Flacco, a forensic investigation of the Indianapolis Colts’ locker room will turn up empty for anyone looking for KOC’s fingerprints. The Minnesota Vikings coach is innocent!
Of course, O’Connell isn’t in Minnesota to ruin quarterbacks. Instead, the “QB Killer” tag refers to O’Connell being extremely particular about the draft’s signal-callers, being quick to veto anyone he believes has a flaw that his coaching can’t fix.
That Richardson’s benching happened just as these two teams crossed paths is fascinating, because the No. 4 pick in the 2023 Draft wasn’t vetoed by the quarterbacking Freddy Kruger. In fact, there was a belief that the Vikings tried to trade up nearly 20 spots to land the 6-foot-4, 244 lbs. signal-caller with a cannon arm.
Obviously, it didn’t work out, and the dual-threat quarterback went to the Colts, who started him in Week 1 in 2023. Richardson suffered a concussion in Week 2 and an ACL tear by Week 5. At the start of this season, the Colts threw their guy under center again, and look how that’s going.
The tools are evident — he leads the NFL with 16.2 yards per completion — but the overall package is a mess right now. For his 10-start career, Richardson has completed just 50.2% of his passes (44.2 this year) with seven touchdowns against eight interceptions. Adding five touchdowns on the ground helps, but not nearly enough to keep his job ahead of Joe Flacco.
We’ve seen this story over and over again: Quarterbacks get rushed into action, and they struggle. Credit to C.J. Stroud for thriving with the Houston Texans, but Richardson and No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young have already been benched after getting starts right away after the 2023 Draft. The 2021 Draft is already infamous for producing Zach Wilson (No. 2 overall), Trey Lance (No. 3), Justin Fields (No. 11), and Mac Jones (No. 15), a QB quartet that are either already on their second teams, or out of the league altogether. Wilson, Fields, and Jones all started… you guessed it, Week 1.
Back in August, when J.J. McCarthy went down to a meniscus injury that took him out for the year, it felt devastating. Not only was the QB of the Future injured before the end of the preseason, but it doomed us to a year of watching Sam Darnold. Fans were looking forward to seeing the torch getting handed off at some point to McCarthy, watching a new era of Vikings football truly begin.
While O’Connell has vowed to be patient with his new QB prospect, the calls for McCarthy to displace Darnold could have been overwhelming, even after a 5-2 start. After a rough showing against the New York Jets, followed by two losses, you don’t think the fanbase would start wondering if Darnold could get it done? That you wouldn’t hear deafening chants of “WE WANT J.J.” in the closing minutes of Sunday’s game, should things go awry?
Please. The fact that the Vikings have looked like contenders would only increase the pressure to start McCarthy and get on with the transition.
But awesome news: Minnesota literally can’t do it. McCarthy is throwing again, but he’s still rehabbing his meniscus. Now he gets to be with the team on the sidelines, as he was on Thursday night, cozying up to the quarterback room and getting to pick Darnold’s brain, learning the playbook, taking part in team meetings, and getting individual attention from KOC himself.
He’s forced to hold the clipboard. At this point, after seeing what’s happened to every QB in the past four drafts aside from Trevor Lawrence, Stroud, Jayden Daniels, and maybe Caleb Williams, would you rather have it any other way?
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