QB of the future?

The issue is not whether the coaches have an idea about what they have in McCarthy. The issue is that the endorsement of a coach about a player who has not demonstrated their abilities on the field means little or nothing. KOC's glowing statement about McCarthy constitutes no evidence.

If this is not true, then find me a case of the coaches of Kenny Pickett, Bryce Young, Trey Lance, Zach Wilson, JaMarcus Russell, or ANY bust QB said to reporters during their rookie year, "Oh wow, we scouted and interviewed him before the draft but now that we see him in the building, he obviously sucks. Damn, fans should have no faith in this guy."

Sure, KOC knows more about McCarthy's ability than he did before the draft. He will act on that increased info - but he won't tell reporters and fans anything but good news now. If they do have doubts and think he might be trade bait, why ruin his value with honest public statements? This is also tied to KAM's questionable draft success. Addison is on the way to making people forgive Cine - but if McCarthy was a bust it would be damning.

No evidence.

Maybe he does; I never said he did not. But he would say the same thing ("He's going to be our next franchise QB") regardless of whether he actually thinks that is true. People here are basing their preference for McCarthy on that statement, but it is vastly less valid as evidence than the game play of Darnold.

All this McCarthy/Darnold talk is getting boring, let's talk about Kirk Cousins instead! LOL

I believe that this is how most of us feel. We're just dreaming of the opposite scenario where our current success extends through the entire season and into the playoffs.

Our team having success through the entire season is different than believing Sam Darnold is a top 5 elite level QB worth paying up for which was what I was responding to...

This is absolutely wrong, as one who poured over those Panthers games I can say that Darnold has been way better. His accuracy is so much better than even that previous stretch. If Darnold was that good during that portion he wouldn't have settled for a backup job in 2023.


5th rounders become backups at about a 30% clip, and that is "backup" and not "quality backup". It is absurd to judge O'Connell on what is essentially a throw-away pick.


Lottery picks can win millions of dollars, don't you think? Same logic here on a lesser scale. Day 3 picks bust all of the time, it'd be one thing if Hall was coached up to be a quality backup elsewhere but that's unlikely. But the reality is that the best QB gurus can't do much with slightly better than UDFA prospects. Otherwise said gurus would be pumping out Day 3 / UDFA QBs all of the time.


Yeah, how dare a young QB struggle in his first few starts, as if plenty of great QBs haven't in their first few games.


Wait wait wait, this entire time the argument was "Darnold will break out now that he has the proper coaching, weapons, and OL to support him" and now it's "Darnold is so good he's hiding O'Connell's weaknesses"? Please tell me I am misunderstanding this.


I see it as evidence that O'Connell intends to have McCarthy as the starting QB in 2025, but I agree that it means little about how good McCarthy will end up being. And that's knowing that internally they had incredibly high expectations for Darnold. They aren't shocked by his play like the majority of us are.


Some thought that it was Kirk Cousins who uniquely inspired heated debates, but in reality the QB position will always be a subject of contentious debate no matter who is starting... unless everyone agrees that they stink.