Editing Episode 609 (section)

=== JJ McCarthy and the QB Situation ===
McCarthy's Ravens preseason performance extended his struggles from the Giants game. The primary discussion points:

* His time-to-throw remained historically long; Arif argued that even accounting for a weak offensive line — Henry Bird was poor, Ver-Shawn Lee was poor, Michael Jurgens was below average — he did not perform well in clean pockets either
* His best throw of the game, a 50-50 ball to Ty Felton, was identified as a case where McCarthy stepped up into the pocket and used that momentum correctly — Arif noted that if your best throw of the game is also the one where your process is correct, that is not encouraging
* A CBS Sports piece and a Tyler Dunne/Go Long TD piece on McCarthy's reliability among coaches and players had published during the same week
* Carson Wentz again outperformed McCarthy by a significant margin, which Arif noted was itself a concern about the backup position given Wentz's injury history
* Max Brosmer was injured early in the Giants game, forcing Wentz into extended action — one observer had initially concluded Brosmer was benched for poor play before the injury was reported

On the question of cutting McCarthy: Arif assessed it as unlikely but not off the table. The primary argument for keeping him was that he offered more upside than Brosmer, and that teams with arrogant-enough coaching staffs would potentially take a reclamation flyer on a first-round pick — meaning trade value, however minimal (a sixth or seventh), existed. McCarthy was assessed as the QB3, with the Vikings likely carrying three quarterbacks given the circumstances.

The question of McCarthy's historical peers was explored: was his ceiling lower than Christian Ponder's? Arif looked up Ponder's 2012 era-adjusted net yards per attempt (89 on a scale where 100 is average) and compared it to McCarthy's previous season (74 — described as "the one where it's like, this guy needs assistance"). Ponder could at least throw short, could hand off to Adrian Peterson, could target Percy Harvin deep, and once lowered his shoulder into Lance Briggs. McCarthy cannot throw short. The hosts acknowledged, reluctantly, that this comparison is not flattering to McCarthy.

Arif also reviewed the historical record of first-round quarterbacks who fell to third string and recovered to above-average play. The piece "Post-Bust Revival" at Wide Left covered many cases — Drew Brees, Ryan Tannehill, Sam Darnold, Geno Smith — but almost all did so on a different team. The only meaningful same-team example Arif could identify was Alex Smith under Jim Harbaugh. For every Alex Smith there are a million Jake Lockers and Blaine Gabberts, the majority of whom played for AFC South teams.