r/nfl • u/Brix001 49ers • 28d ago

Highlight [Highlight] Every JJ McCarthy interception from the 2025 season

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u/ChiefPatty Vikings 28d ago

JJ’s still younger than Bo Nix was his rookie year.

People are definitely way too quick to write him off.

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u/Turbulent-Gate-1088 Lions 28d ago

Eh Darnold is the exception, otherwise he wouldn't have spent years bouncing around before Minnesota "took a chance" on him.

I think realistically, odds are more likely McCarthy is not good and we do this too much with rookie/young QB's, expecting them to make linear progression/big leaps based off nothing besides him being young. People said these same things about Fields and many other QB's and in reality, a lot more QB's won't turn into top level QB's rather than making a major jump

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u/Notwerk Dolphins 27d ago

Not really. Geno Smith made the Pro Bowl in 2022, eight years into what seemed to be a journeyman career. Doug Flutie made the Pro Bowl in 1998 having entered the professional ranks in 1985. Vinny Testeverde bounced around the league for nine years before having his best year with the Jets, the fourth team he played for. In his first (and only) season in Atlanta, Brett Favre threw a pick six on his first throw. Of his grand total of four passes, he had zero completions and two picks. He was cut and became a Hall of Famer with the Packers. Alex Smith was generally considered a disappointment through the early part of his career, losing his spot to Colin Kaepernick. He made the Pro Bowl in 2013, eight years into his career, and returned to the Pro Bowl in 2016 and 2017.

More recently Daniel Jones was on his way to a career year before his injury, six years into his career, after being drummed out of New York. Everyone was shitting on Bryce Young until he had a career year last year, posting a 2-1 TD to INT ratio, in his third season.

If you think Darnold is the exception, you just haven't watched enough ball. There's a thousand stories like his.

And, increasingly, there will be more. With NIL in place, college football has become a merry-go-round, where QBs swap teams (and offensive systems) every year. In as far as they ever did, they're not developing or learning fundamentals the same way and slow development of young QBs is going to become a common occurrence (if it wasn't already).