listening to baseball on the radio

I'm not surprised or mad, just find it interesting they announced this so late. JJ has not been Good at QB at the NFL level.

He went from a run-heavy offense at Michigan, with the Go Blue, "who has it better than us," 4-yards-a-down grind it out culture instilled by Harbaugh and the school to an offense that's focussed primarily on gaining ground in the air and letting certain personalities be the focus if it fit the narrative of the game. That's not to say the Vikings don't run the ball and it's not to say the JJ-led Wolverines were never in the air (he broke some long-standing passing records the school had and threw over 6000 yards while there), but it's two Very Different Games he was being asked to play.

Then he gets hurt before his rookie season and can't play, which Wildly affected his development. Then he was in and out with injury last season too, again affecting him. As a lot of these injuries were to his lower half, they really have not utilised his legs, which were a Huge piece to his success as a QB at Michigan with 632 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns over his three seasons there. When they did let him run, it resulted in a 26 yard run that ended in a touchdown.

Another thing that's affected his development? An unstable QB room. There have been 5 Different qbs in that room with JJ over his first two seasons. 4 of them had more nfl experience than JJ during their time with the team, 3 of them present while he was Injured and could not do anything but watch. The fourth? Carson Wentz, who was his backup on a one-year prove-it deal and repeatedly played injured last season and was not performing much better than J and essentially swapped places on the IR with the kid, None of which makes it easy to Learn and Grow. There has never been healthy competition or an overall positive environment in that room since the 2024 draft. Yes, Sam had an incredible season with them that year, but after developing on the bench in SF the year before behind a Stable QB and system and having 5 seasons under his belt before he went there.

KOC was also not prepared for the kind of player and person JJ is. This is a kid ("kid" I'm literally the same age as him) who dreamed of going to Ohio State, got confirmation they would bring him on after highschool and not take a winter qb, then when that proved to be wrong, he passed on Every Other Offer he got to go to their Rival School. He got drafted to the Vikings as a Bears fan and Threw Out Everything from his childhood because they're rivals. He would make incredible plays that Harbaugh was Terrified to see because they were risky. He is not a Kirk Cousins or Sam Darnold, not someone with a true maturity about him. He doesn't have that old-school experience Cousins brought (his ability to read the field) or had fought against expectations like Sam (who needed Support from all sides) or anything of the sort that they clearly thought he might. His previous coach punched his players to get them fired up and was on the sideline like he wanted to be on the field. He's a kid who is petty and wants to Prove You Wrong and was on a Very Good and Consistent Team on both the offense and defense before. The vikings spent a lot of money on their 2025 roster on a few older players on the line instead of putting that into a Lot of players on the roster to bolster what they had.

I think Kyler Murray's presence could be good for JJ. He's a good qb, but just has been cursed by being on the Cardinals so far. I don't like that the starting role was announced so late because I'm worried that uncertainty on the team structure affected the chemistry and relationship they could've been building during camps. There was definitely an idea that this was always going to happen and that certainly Pushed the two to be better, but it absolutely Did Not push them to Work together. You could tell from the interviews, the delicacy everyone else was speaking with and the missteps JJ had that painted the picture very clearly (referring to when he said "opposite sides of the classroom" that the staff immediately tried to explain away). If the role was handed out just a couple weeks earlier, the outlook for the vikes might be entirely different for not just this season but the future of this franchise. I also wouldn't be surprised if they traded JJ if Kyler performs Super Duper and they get close to defeating the truth of the team (never winning a superbowl) and they decide to re-sign him instead. If they do trade JJ, I hope he goes to a team that wants to put the time into developing him and building on what he already has going for him, not pouring a new foundation.