J.J. McCarthy Snags Vote of Confidence from Past Coach

Many appear quite willing to leave J.J. McCarthy for dead. Baltimore Ravens head coach Jesse Minter is not among them.

Baltimore’s skipper chatted after the pair of joint practices at TCO Performance Center. I took the chance to ask him about his views on Minnesota’s McCarthy. After all, Coach Minter is part of the Jim Harbaugh coaching tree and he helped to coach the quarterback at Michigan (albeit as a defensive coach). He had nothing but good things to say.

J.J. McCarthy Gets Praise from Minter

To a certain extent, Minter is running interference for McCarthy. The Ravens’ coach is trying to keep things upbeat and positive even if it’s obvious that the quarterback hasn’t always been sharp.

Fair.

But then there’s some more insight in what Minter discusses. Go ahead and see what he had to say: “Yeah, J.J., obviously was at Michigan with him for two years […] He’s a really young player and I think he’s got a lot of upside still. He’s a gamer, he’s a winner, he makes plays. He can make plays with his legs, he can make all the throws.”

Minter then swerved into the more candid and fascinating portion of his answer.

Check out how the coach ended his J.J. McCarthy response: “He had a pretty expansive run game at Michigan. There wasn’t maybe always the same type of concepts that he’s doing now, so I think he’s still learning. But I’ve got nothing but good things to say about J.J.”

A few thoughts.

To begin, Coach Minter is exactly right about several points. McCarthy is still only 23. Don’t lose sight of how young that is. Some of the players who get drafted in the 2027 NFL Draft — next April — are going to be older than McCarthy even as he enters his fourth NFL season.

Moreover, Minter is exactly right that the young arm boasts impressive wheels. He’s not as explosive as Kyler Murray but McCarthy is a very good athlete. Combining the arm talent and speed with that built-in swagger means J.J. McCarthy can be a “gamer.”

What’s notable is what gets included at the end: the run game for the Wolverines and the passing concepts that McCarthy has struggled to master in Minnesota.

Minter is likely exactly right. However, does that shift the spotlight back onto Kevin O’Connell somewhat?

Tasking the kid with carrying the offense with a less-than-formidable ground game is a pretty foolish approach. Last year, J.J. McCarthy was a 22-year-old first-time NFL starter coming off a missed rookie season due to injury. Handing the ball off more would have been prudent.

There’s then the adjustment period to the passing concepts that Minnesota is leaning on. Needing further refinement isn’t much of a surprise since he’s still so young and has missed so much time due to being in the infirmary. There are still questions, though.

Did Minnesota’s leadership group fully appreciate how large the chasm was between Michigan’s passing attack and what would be demanded in Minnesota’s passing attack?

In 2025, J.J. McCarthy completed 57.6% of his passes, a horrible number. He then had 1,632 yards to stand alongside 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Minnesota went 6-4 under his guidance.

McCarthy is expected to earn a beefy workload in tomorrow’s Ravens preseason game.

Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.