Carlsbad’s Kevin O’Connell would be wise to slow the hype train that comes with drafting a quarterback 10th overall, as the Minnesota Vikings did Thursday night with their selection of J.J. McCarthy.
McCarthy won’t be 22 until the next NFL postseason, making him extra young for a rookie. The big challenge for McCarthy is that the Vikings don’t boast the stacked-deck advantages the quarterback enjoyed last season with Michigan.
It wasn’t until their 14th game last year that coach Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines trailed in the second half, a reflection of their machine-like dominance with a roster that sent 18 players to the NFL scouting combine and saw 13 players drafted last week.
In the national championship, McCarthy won by handing the ball off — Michigan ripping Washington for 303 rushing yards on eight yards per carry, fueling the 34-13 blowout.
Norv Turner, the Chargers’ former head coach, had a term for tamping down outside expectations.
“Let it be a surprise,” he said, wishing success for Mike McCoy’s first San Diego Chargers team soon after Turner was fired.
O’Connell should finesse the purple-haze expectations for McCarthy.
Let it be a surprise, for example, if McCarthy were to beat out Sam Darnold this summer.
Darnold is the turnover-prone USC alum who flopped with the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers, so outsiders may assume it won’t take long for McCarthy to seize the starting job.
Darnold’s 56 NFL starts give him a significant edge, however.
The 26-year-old had good stretches with Carolina, showed useful mobility in brief stints last year and should benefit from having spent last season with the NFC-champion San Francisco 49ers in coach Kyle Shanahan’s QB-friendly system.
Getting the most from Darnold will improve the chances the veteran can raise the bar higher for McCarthy, reducing the odds of rushing the rookie.
Bob McGinn, a longtime NFL reporter and Michigan alum, would like to see Darnold hold off the rookie for more than a few minutes.
“For months, I’ve said the best thing for McCarthy was a return to Michigan, and I’m not saying that because I’m a graduate of that school,” McGinn wrote this week for GoLongTD.com. “He comes across as naive, has almost no touch and benefited more than anyone from a wonderful coaching staff and some remarkable breaks.”
McCarthy s a Vikings franchise well-equipped to speed up his progress.
“Every quarterback in the class that I interacted with wanted to go to Minnesota,” McCarthy said.
O’Connell, the former San Diego State and NFL quarterback who began his professional career under Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, responded well last year to having three Vikings backups each start multiple games after starter Kirk Cousins went down.
McCarthy will get to practice against Brian Flores, whose varied chess, predicated on constant threats of blitzes and simulated blitzes, confounds even veteran QBs.
All-Pro receiver Justin Jefferson, impressive second-year wideout Jordan Addison, versatile running back Aaron Jones and a Grade-B line will improve McCarthy’s odds as well.
McCarthy reminds former NFL scout Daniel Jeremiah of loose-armed, mobile and angular Alex Smith, the Helix High School and Utah alum who went first in the 2005 NFL draft.
Smith struggled through his first five NFL years with a 49ers franchise marked by instability in its coaching and front-office ranks.
He had more interceptions than touchdowns over the four seasons. Due to shoulder issues that began with a hard sack he took early in his third season, Smith didn’t play in 2008.
A key to Smith turning around his career was Harbaugh becoming the 49ers’ head coach in 2011.
If O’Connell can guide McCarthy to Smith’s level of pocket ing, mobile playmaking and turnover avoidance that factored into Smith directing five teams to the playoffs, the 38-year-old coach stands to stay in Minnesota a long time.
