The Real Reason Coaches Do Not Start Rookie QBs

Don't make excuses set up to fail is BS. Stroud was set up to fail. Many others were. They succeeded anyway. Don't make excuses period

Just stop it, you act like the Chiefs are a stacked team. People didn't even think they'd make the playoffs last year. They won the super bowl because Mahomes carried them. Now quit it. Their team is not stacked they are akin to the Packers later in Rodgers career the only difference is Mahomes isn't a choker and Rodgers is.


YES VIKINGPWR I DO BELIEVE HE WOULD CARRY THEM. WOW MAN.

Do I have to yell or something? I mean come on. You think those teams wouldn't instantly turn around with Mahomes at QB? Get a clue man

Context is important as virtually no two situations are ever exactly the same.

The first piece is that Kirk Cousins and Adam Thielen, proven NFL Veterans, struggled to pick up Kevin's Playbook. Not just the concepts. It was more on the terminology. McCarthy shouldn't see the field until he's completely confident in all the lingo AND all the plays. You can't send a Rookie out there with only half the plays available. DCs will feast.

Second, the run game has been abysmal under O'Connell. That and a reliable Tight End are a Rookie QBs best friends. McCarthy will likely have neither early in the year. And maybe never this year as it pertains to running the ball. Kevin also shows little patience with the run even when it's working.

So JJ will not only have to clean up the issue with over striding on deep throws to the left of the numbers, he's also going to have to get accustomed to throwing 10+ more times per game at least. Probably more. You want his mechanics as clean as possible when he does start so his arm isn't being relied on more than it should to generate velocity that many times.

The third piece is having mastery over Line calls and audibles. McCarthy did make Line calls at Michigan. More than a lot of the guys drafted this year. But as Matt Fries pointed out, it's still nowhere near the amount he'll need to make in the NFL. And while he's good at diagnosing Defenses pre-snap (many examples provided by Fries) he wasn't asked to audible.

I personally believe JJ needs starts this year. You don't get used to that volume of throws just by throwing to backups in practice. But he needs to have the Playbook down, needs to have no bad footwork issues and needs to be able to make all the Line calls and audibles before he can start.

Minnesota will not be under any pressure to start him too early because they will get off to a bad start due to the schedule and won't look like a Playoff Contender. But in the latter third of the season I hope to see McCarthy on the field at the start of games.

So was Patrick Mahomes.

IMO if McCarthy can't get those things down by game one either he sucks or the coaching staff sucks. It shouldn't take that long with a very bright, dedicated, and ridiculously good athlete. He should be starting by week 7 after the bye unless Darnold is blowing all of our minds by having us at 4-1. 

That would mean that Darnold grasped the Playbook faster than Cousins AND plays as well as Kirk did last year right out of the gate AND Kevin got the turnover issues fixed AND got the running game going for the first time in the 35 games he's coached in Minnesota....Against a tougher opening schedule than the one his Team faced last year when they started 4-4.

Too many things need to go right IMO.

But I do want McCarthy to get starts this year. He needs to get used to the volume O'Connell will require him to throw in live action. You can't wait until '25 for that to happen.

I think it's important that we as fans don't go overboard on the footwork thing. Drake Maye has much more work to do in that regard. As does Penix. Nix made too many throws off his back feet fading away from the LOS. Williams also has flaws. Daniels doesn't have footwork issues, but his eyes drop the second he's pressured so he's not seeing the field.

McCarthy over strides. Particularly on deep throws to his left. That's relatively minor compared to the bad habits that most of the other guys have developed. And no college QB ever comes into the NFL without something to work on as it relates to mechanics.