ESPN’s Jason McCourty on Carson Wentz’s Chances to Hang onto Vikings’ QB1 Job

Jason McCourty joined The Rich Eisen Show with a Lombardi Trophy and an Emmy on the shelf behind him, which Rich immediately called a flex. Then the Monday Night Countdown analyst got to work on a week 9 slate full of big questions.

He thinks Carson Wentz can take the Vikings job and keep it, sees the Bears as the team to beat after watching Jeffery Simmons throw grown men around, has the Jaguars as the best team in the AFC, and said bluntly that the Ravens are done without Lamar Jackson. He also had two teams in mind for Jonathan Taylor, plus a sleeper, and a gentle jab at JJ McCarthy that Rich was ready for.

Can Carson Wentz Keep the Vikings Job?

Rich asked whether Wentz stepping in for the injured Kyler Murray could become permanent. "Yeah, I do," McCourty said.

He spread the blame around. "Kyler Murray hasn't played great. I would challenge and say Kevin O'Connell hasn't done a good job of figuring out the best ways to utilize Kyler," he said. Sometimes receivers aren't open and Murray has to scramble. Other times, especially with Justin Jefferson, "it looks like the play is designed to go to him. It's play action. The window's there. He's open. And for whatever reason, Kyler Murray's not throwing the football."

For Wentz, McCourty sees a great opportunity on a team with a Super Bowl caliber defense. "You can't average 19 points a game and think that this team is going to get through the gauntlet of the NFC," he said. His advice: "Throw the ball to 18. Figure out where he is on the field and just give him a chance." A good showing against Buffalo, he said, could make the job Wentz's.

Losing a Job to Injury

Rich, noting McCourty won a ring in New England with a backup quarterback stepping in, asked what it's like in a locker room when someone loses a job to injury.

McCourty told his own story. In his second year, he won a starting cornerback job, then fractured his forearm around week three or four. His replacement played well, and four weeks later, healthy, McCourty sat in a meeting with his defensive coordinator and was told the replacement was staying in the lineup. "And I'm pissed off," he said.

So is it fair if Murray loses his job to a hamstring? "Absolutely not," McCourty said. "But when you're on a journey to try to win a Super Bowl, there's no time for fairness." If Murray had been performing at a level the team felt good about, "he'd still be in the lineup when he got back healthy." He added that he isn't on any Wentz hype train, but the Vikings have to try something to get more out of the offense.

The Bears Feel Like the Team to Beat

Asked whether Chicago's win in Seattle made the Bears the new team to beat, McCourty didn't hesitate. "It sure as hell feels like that."

He said pregame, Jeffery Simmons looked uneasy about being traded, excited to be a Bear but unsure how to feel about leaving Nashville after his whole career there. "Then the game started and he started throwing grown men out of the way," McCourty said. "It was just like, oh Nelly, like this is a football team when he's out there with those bright orange sleeves."

McCourty said Simmons changed how Dennis Allen called the game. Allen blitzed far less than he had all season, and with offenses doubling Simmons, Montez Sweat ended up with a sack.

On offense, he praised Caleb Williams as "a multiplier," noting that the Bears have put up 30 points in every game he started and finished other than the Vikings game. "I think the ceiling is sky high for him."

Bears vs. Bills in Super Bowl 61?

Rich pointed out that Chicago has another national stage Sunday night against Todd Bowles' blitzing Tampa Bay defense, then the Bills on Monday night, and asked if Bears-Bills is the Super Bowl pick.

McCourty wouldn't dismiss the Jaguars. But he liked what Buffalo's defense showed coming out of the bye against the Ravens: more aggressive, more blitzing, a ton of man coverage, a big change from early-season games giving up 30 points. He's intrigued to see what Jim Leonhard dreams up against Wentz, Jefferson and Jordan Addison.

"They've taken the step that as a fan you would hope when they went to Joe Brady," McCourty said. Between James Cook's running and Josh Allen doing what he always does, "this just feels like a complete football team."

The Jaguars Are the Best Team in the AFC

Rich turned to Jacksonville, 6-2 in a division where the next best team has two wins, with conference wins over New England, Cincinnati and now Baltimore.

"I love watching them. I love Liam Coen," McCourty said. He described Coen as a coach who challenges players but builds them up, starting with Trevor Lawrence. McCourty was one of several retired players, along with Maurice Jones-Drew and DeMarcus Ware, invited to sit in on OTA practices and meetings. The message he heard from Coen over and over was that Lawrence needed to believe "there's nobody better than you on the football field."

"In the AFC, there's no team that's more balanced than the Jacksonville Jaguars," McCourty said. "They are the ones that are playing the best football in the AFC right now."

The Ravens Shouldn't Pull the Plug

On Baltimore, McCourty was blunt. Jacoby Brissett may keep them relevant, "but if Lamar Jackson's not in the lineup, like they're done. Stick a fork in them." The real question, he said, is the future and whether the Ravens can get an extension done with Jackson.

Rich noted how quickly things turned. Just five days earlier, Jackson was back from a three-game absence in Western New York. Now Derrick Henry was being asked if he's on the block. Should the Ravens pull the plug at the deadline?

"No, I don't think they pull the plug," McCourty said. The hope is that after Jackson's thumb surgery, he is back in the lineup by next year, and the Ravens try to "run it back with a lot of the same guys." For Henry, McCourty said, Baltimore has become home since leaving Nashville, and he isn't looking to be a one-year rental. That's why the Ravens traded for Brissett. "You're not just punting on the season."

But McCourty was honest about the locker room. "You're not going to convince me that without that guy in the lineup, we still have a chance," he said. Jackson, he said, is one of maybe three quarterbacks in the league whose ability is unmatched.

Where Jonathan Taylor Should Go

Taylor said Thursday he just wants resolution. Rich asked which team should shoot the moon.

McCourty named two. The Bengals, because "I don't want Joe Burrow throwing the ball 40 times a game," and Taylor could take 18 to 20 of those snaps. And the Vikings, who are "just looking for any form of a spark," with Taylor opening things up for Jefferson.

His sleeper: the Giants. Cam Skattebo is a really good back, McCourty said, but pairing Taylor with a team that wants to "play bully ball" in the NFC East, with Jackson Dart coming back from a major injury, "would be a magnificent piece to have in the backfield."

Rich loved it. He'd said it on the show days earlier: Taylor is from New Jersey, and it's a way for the Giants to "run back their Saquon mistake."

Six Quarters of JJ McCarthy

Then Rich made his pitch for the Michigan man. JJ McCarthy, he argued, could go 3-0 as the Giants' starter with wins in Philadelphia and against Washington on Thursday night.

"I'm not going to argue with the six quarters that we've seen from JJ McCarthy," McCourty said, as laughter broke out. Rich asked if that was a passive shot. McCourty insisted he was being honest. "It's been a fantastic six quarters. He's been really good." If the Giants win 10 or 11 games with McCarthy leading the way, he said, there will absolutely be a quarterback competition next season.

He did call McCarthy "double nines," which Rich quickly corrected. "His number is 18, Jason."