Why it will be hard for JJ McCarthy to fail as a fantasy QB

Yahoo

3 days ago

Yahoo Fantasy analysts Matt Harmon and Justin Boone explain why the second-year quarterback is a steal in dynasty drafts and may end up as a serviceable fantasy option in Kevin O'Connell's offense. Hear the full conversation on the 'Yahoo Fantasy Forecast' podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
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Video Transcript
McCarthy, in my mind, is a first-round talent, and he has great weapons around him.
You have a coach that just seems to make any guy under center perform well.
He puts up decent fantasy stats.
The fact that he's going, you know, a little bit later than these other guys I think, in hindsight, is going to be a mistake.
In the long run, I think he's going to get bumped up right where we're seeing Kayla, but right where we're seeing Mago and Knicks, I think he would be a second-round talent.
It might just take, you know, four weeks into the season, eight weeks into the season, or something before people realize that.
If Sam Darnold can do it in this offense, I'm sorry, not to be a Sam Darnold hater, but if Sam Darnold, after the career he had leading up to that point, was able to produce like that, what is McCarthy going to do in this offense?
Yeah, like, it's like hits to some degree, right?
And I think obviously where they fell in this draft really kind of perfectly encapsulates that.
And, you know, you can say like, you're apologizing for your Sam Darnold, like if he did it, then JJ McCarthy can do it.
The entire industry is saying like, this was less about Darnold and more about what Kevin O'Connell is giving you, and I don't think you could find anybody out there that's got anything bad to say about the way O'Connell designs offenses, the players that they have locked in there for multiple years, like you have the best receiver in football in Justin Jefferson and you just keep going back and charting Jefferson pretty recently for RP, it's like, man, they just do so much to get that guy free, you know, to get him away from, I mean, it's hard to get him away from double coverage, and you know, cloud coverage, and, you know, two-high safety and stuff like that, but they do a lot to get him free on downfield concepts and, you know, Sam Darnold, to his credit, was willing and able to take and make those throws.
We'll see if JJ McCarthy is that guy, but I mean, even if he's not a, I don't know, like an elite quarterback or becomes a guy that is, pushing for top-10 finishes, uh, like in these NFL rankings and stuff like that.
If he's merely a good starting quarterback, it's going to be hard for him to fail from a fantasy perspective in this offense.
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