Colin Cowherd Trashes Vikings Youngster
Colin Cowherd is not a fan of the Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback strategy.
Talking head Colin Cowherd didn’t hold back when mentioning the Vikings’ new quarterback. Here’s what he said, and why it’s causing a stir among the team’s loyalists.
Foremost, he chided the purple team for letting Sam Darnold walk in free agency a few months ago, and now Cowherd is on the case against J.J. McCarthy.
Cowherd believes that McCarthy simply doesn’t have “it” for the QB1 post. And he wasn’t shy about his opinion this week.
J.J. McCarthy Has a Naysayer
Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd teed off on the Vikings’ QB1 this week.
Colin Cowherd Pans J.J. McCarthy’s 2025 Outlook
McCarthy can’t please everybody, despite numerous high-profile endorsements this offseason from teammates, players around the league, NFL coaches, and scouts.
Cowherd provided an alternative take, saying on his show: “J.J. McCarthy, you’re going to see it very quickly — is not what people think. J.J. McCarthy is a ‘C’ quarterback. You ever seen J.J. McCarthy’s fourth quarter college stats and playing from behind fourth quarter stats in college, with Michigan and Harbaugh and that O-line.? They’re terrible.”
For what’s it worth, McCarthy didn’t play from behind at Michigan too often. Doing that with the Vikings in 2025 and beyond will very much feel like trial by fire.
Meanwhile, Minnesota’s offensive line is suddenly sturdy, so pounding the table for Michigan’s is a weird flex.
Cowherd Previously Admonished Vikings for Letting Sam Darnold Walk
Earlier this offseason, Cowherd called out Minnesota for allowing Darnold to leave in free agency for the Seattle Seahawks.
“I think the Bears eke into the playoffs. I think Jordan Love, I like. I think they’re worried about him … they’ve got a couple other needs defensively, and they went with a wide receiver again. The Vikings — I think letting Sam Darnold go, I think they may regret it,” Cowherd said in May.
Therefore, this may be a longstanding axe to grind. If it were up to him — it isn’t — Darnold would still be in the saddle as Minnesota’s QB1, with McCarthy evidently experiencing an unknown timetable to start.
It’s just that the Vikings disagree — and don’t care about Cowherd.
A “Very Good 4th Place Team”
Also in May, Cowherd predicted a last-place finish for the Vikings in the NFC North, claiming a “fourth place finish … I am all in on the Lions winning it and the Bears winning a Wild Card spot. . .Minnesota could win eight games with J.J. and be a really good team, but they are not pulling off last year’s win total. That is the easiest team to predict a pullback of their win total.”
“The Vikings will be a very good fourth-place team,” he concluded.
The man just isn’t a fan of the purple and gold. Plain and simple.
Thankfully — Colin Cowherd Doesn’t Matter
McCarthy can show up in September and smash the naysayers. It’s really that simple. When Minnesota drafted him, it did not plan to start Darnold forever, and in fact, last summer’s quarterback competition went down to the wire until McCarthy’s meniscus tear.
Cowherd’s comments in July can merely be fuel for McCarthy, if he hears them at all.
That goes for any talking head in sports — about anything.
An Actually Sound McCarthy Take
Unlike Cowherd, who is known for bombastic and hot takes — not quite like Skip Bayless but also not worlds apart — a different voice provided some reasonable McCarthy analysis.
He’s Albert Breer of SI.com, and he sized up McCarthy this week. He wrote, “McCarthy has taken all of the first-team reps since the start of spring and has found his voice as a leader on the team. His weight has increased to 220 and the Vikings are seeing a player who is improving day by day, making gains drill by drill.”
“He’s shown himself to be a fast processor. He’s been consistent in making anticipatory throws, and the coaches have worked hard on trying to make him more proficient at layering the ball into tight windows, and taking miles per hour off his fastball at times.”
Cowherd’s take is especially hot because virtually no Vikings fans wanted another year of Sam Darnold at QB1, not after Darnold’s utter collapse in the final two games of 2024.
Breer added, “So, he’s got a full head of steam going into camp, with the plan being to let him take steps naturally while relying on a strong offensive roster and scheme. The Vikings will utilize the run game, play-action off of it, quick throws and the screen game to ensure McCarthy can go out there and play.”
“They hope the volume Brian Flores’s defense throws at him will help accelerate his development. No one’s going to ask him to be Superman. The Vikings, as good as they’ve been over Kevin O’Connell’s first three years, have the luxury of not having to do that.”
Overall, McCarthy doesn’t have too many detractors this summer, but Cowherd can be interpreted as the poster child in July. There had to be one, and Cowherd leads the way.
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