The Minnesota Vikings got their guy at quarterback in J.J. McCarthy at 10th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft. They also came close to not getting him in a few different ways.
When writing about McCarthy's mentality, The Athletic's Alec Lewis shared a tidbit about the NFL Draft where he apparently came close to becoming a Chicago Bear.
Still sipping a hot coffee at Starbucks, Holcomb recalls another moment from the offseason. He was hosting a quarterbacks camp for middle-school-aged boys, and one of the attendees was Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles. During a changeover at the camp, Holcomb approached Poles and introduced himself. They found their way to the subject of McCarthy.
“He was talking about how much they (the Bears) loved J.J.,” Holcomb said. “And said to me, ‘I don’t think people realize how close we were to possibly taking him.’ Obviously, they love (No. 1 pick) Caleb (Williams), but I thought that was interesting.”
J.J. McCarthy came close to ending up with Chicago Bears
Going into the 2024 NFL Draft, there was far from any sort of real consensus on McCarthy. Some believed he was a great prospect worthy of going in the top 10, while others had him viewed as a second round pick. I personally was on the lower end of McCarthy, ranking him 39th on my big board. There were just a lot of questions that hadn't been answered about what he was when he played at Michigan.
Why McCarthy was selected as high as he was is due to a couple of factors: his arm is a whip, especially in the intermediate range, and his mentality seems to be on a different level from everyone else.
It felt inevitable that the Bears were going to take Caleb Williams at first overall, and that ended up happening. This new revelation comes without too much of a suprise in hindsight, as McCarthy has gotten a large amount of praise from inside the building and those who are there every day.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but this new piece of information shows how much many believed in McCarthy.
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