As the Minnesota Vikings prepare to take on the Chicago Bears on Monday night in the Windy City, one of several sub-plots is this first matchup between 2024 first-round drafted quarterbacks – #1 overall Caleb Williams and #10 overall J.J. McCarthy.
McCarthy of course missed the 2024 season with a torn meniscus while Williams struggled in his rookie campaign. This first matchup comes as a bombshell report from Tyler Dunne in which 32 anonimous sources- “coaches, scouts, execs, players and staffers inside Halas Hall” reveal that by the end of last season, Bears coaches concluded that Williams had a learning disorder- dyslexia- which was why he was having so much trouble learning and executing the offense. His sources also say that Bears’ GM Ryan Poles was fixed on drafting Williams from the get-go and basically cutoff any debate about other possible quarterbacks and that he had to have known about Williams’ learning disorder but hid it from the coaching staff, among numerous other unflattering reports and anecdotes about both Poles and Williams. While clearly some of this is former employees within the Bears organization sounding off against their former employer (although some are apparently still employed by the Bears), there are a lot of specifics that are difficult to ignore and kinda fit with other things we knew already. Some things, like Williams’ slow processing speed, has been pointed out by Sean Payton in his draft evaluation of Williams and shows up on tape as well. The story not only paints a very unflattering picture of Williams’ ability to learn and execute an NFL offense and his football IQ generally, it also does the same for his work ethic and leadership ability as well, essentially pointing the finger at Williams as the cause of the dysfunction in Chicago last season, rather than the victim of it. It’s a very long two-part story with many details I left out and part three yet to come.
Meanwhile, in Minnesota- where quarterbacks come to thrive- J.J. McCarthy has had nothing but rave reviews from players, coaches- everyone- about both his work ethic and leadership ability. He also gets high marks for his grasp of the offense and ability to execute it effectively- get the play call out correctly, break the huddle and get to the line of scrimmage quickly, make his reads and progressions, and distribute the ball effectively. There is an asterisk behind the latter of course because all that has been in preseason and practice sessions rather than a real regular season game. But expectations remain high for McCarthy as he makes his first NFL start in prime time on Monday night.
So it will be interesting to see how well each quarterback executes their offense. Williams, in theory, should be a year ahead of McCarthy when it comes to playing quarterback in the NFL- will that show up on Monday night? What if it doesn’t? Williams’ performance last season has already been overshadowed by that of Jayden Daniels, the #2 overall pick, and even Bo Nix, who was picked 12th. Michael Penix Jr. also looked better than Williams in his first three games as a starter last season, and arguably Drake Maye has looked better too. Should McCarthy outduel Williams in Chicago to start the season, it might prove yet another example of Williams potentially being the worst pick of the six quarterbacks drafted in the top 12 picks of the 2024 draft.
In any case, the comparison between McCarthy and Williams on Monday night will be unavoidable. Will this become a long-standing, heated competition? Somehow I doubt it. At the moment at least, they seem to be two quarterbacks on different paths.
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