Remember JJ McCarthy? He's still on the Vikings! You'd think that it wouldn't be all that surprising considering he was, you know, drafted only last season, but that's what happens when you miss the entire year with a knee injury – people forget about you. And by 'people' I mean probably just me.
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McCarthy's back this year and has resumed the role as QB1 in Minnesota, which will be one of the more interesting storylines to follow in the NFC North through the first couple of months. Is he healthy? Is he ready? Is he even good?! All worthwhile questions that definitely come from a place of curiosity and aren't just rhetorical trolling.
And even if they are rhetorical trolling, Sports Illustrated doesn't care. Sports Illustrated is more than willing to answer The Big JJ McCarthy Question without blinking an eye – it's very brave. In a list of 100 offseason predictions that they dropped this week, SI took a crack at predicting McCarthy's statline for this season, and Packers fans will have a nice, hearty laugh when reading it. They might also fall into a deep panic – it kinda depends on what kinda Packers fan you are.
Sports Illustrated's JJ McCarthy prediction is comically silly [nervously laughs]
"J.J. McCarthy will put up the following numbers in Year 1 as an NFL starter: 3,431 passing yards, 67% completion rate, 26 touchdown passes, 9 interceptions."
Woof. For the first few minutes of writing this blog, I tried to do schtick about how nine interceptions was sooooo many interceptions and the only thing worth concentrating on here, but I couldn't even convince myself that was true. You know it's bad when even your own not-funny coping humor doesn't cut it.
That would be tough to watch. Also, kind of a wild prediction for someone who's coming off major knee surgery, has never played a meaningful NFL snap ever, and wasn't exactly a prolific passer in college. I'm just going to chalk this up to the Kevin O'Connell Effect and hope that, eventually, the Kevin O'Connell Effect won't work on someone. It hasn't happened yet, but there's a first time for everything.