Rich on a Possible Tua Back Injury & JJ McCarthy’s Demotion to Viking’s 3rd-String QB

Atlanta's quarterback plan for week one might already be changing. Michael Penix Jr. isn't physically ready, so Tua Tagovailoa is set to start against the Steelers, but a practice report gave everyone pause.

ESPN's Marc Raimondi reported that during the open media portion of Thursday's practice, Tagovailoa touched his back and sat down on the grass briefly during individual drills. It was unclear what happened, and he didn't seem to throw again during the portion media could see. Daniel Flick, who covers the team for the AJC, reported that Cooper Rush took the bulk of the throws for the rest of that window. Tagovailoa had already missed time earlier in camp with back spasms.

Rich knows the feeling. "You get back spasms, it's real," he said. And he had a specific thought about it. "Whenever I get back spasms, I think to myself, I'm glad I'm not doing this 48 hours before I have to see T.J. Watt." Or Cam Heyward. Or Alex Highsmith.

The larger story, Rich said, is how everything connects. Tagovailoa landed in a great spot, with Drake London, Kyle Pitts and Bijan Robinson, and Kevin Stefanski calling plays. He has a chance to take the job from Penix, who came out of the famous quarterback draft with Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye and Bo Nix. But if Tagovailoa's back doesn't cooperate, Rush may be the one to answer the bell.

Would Rush beating the Steelers surprise anyone? The room didn't think so, with no knock on Pittsburgh. Rush is 9-7 as a career starter, and as Rich put it, he's "a professional quarterback who with these weapons and some protection and the proper scheme, stranger things have happened." Rich also believes Penix goes in the minute he's physically able.

Then Rich turned to the other Kevin. In Minnesota, Kevin O'Connell has Kyler Murray, who, unlike Tagovailoa, isn't grabbing at his back and is "1,000% the starting quarterback" for the opener against Green Bay. And O'Connell also has J.J. McCarthy, whose path mirrors Penix's in painful ways.

McCarthy's knee injury wiped out his rookie season. In year two, he went in and out of the lineup with injuries behind a hurt offensive line, which made him hard to evaluate. Carson Wentz stepped in with veteran savvy before getting hurt himself, and it became Max Brosmer time, all while Sam Darnold, whom the Vikings let walk, won a Super Bowl elsewhere.

Now McCarthy is third on the depth chart. Wentz will back up Murray on Sunday, and O'Connell explained why.

"Carson will be the backup on Sunday, and JJ will obviously be the third guy," O'Connell said. "I'm looking at that right now as a week-to-week thing." He pointed to Wentz having almost 100 career starts and what Wentz did last year with limited reps, adding that McCarthy will still get plenty of work giving the defense a look. "This gives us the best chance to win this Sunday."

Rich understands the logic. Seattle had just shown what happens when a starter goes down five snaps in, and nobody wants to be throwing an untested backup like Jalen Milroe into a game. Rich filed Milroe under you-can't-make-this-up, since he is the quarterback McCarthy beat in the Rose Bowl before beating Penix for the national championship. The Vikings re-signed Harrison Smith because they think they can win right now.

But Rich also thinks about McCarthy's career, and so did the reporter who asked O'Connell about it.

"I would be cautious about the depth chart and what that means," O'Connell said. He praised how professional McCarthy has been in their conversations. "He's still a young quarterback in the NFL with 10 starts and a bunch of talent and a bunch of things that make him a guy that we want to pour into every single day. And the best part is he's going to work as hard as anybody."

Rich offered the big picture bluntly. "Unless he gets in and plays some meaningful snaps this season and wins some games and shows what he can do as a quarterback, there's no chance that fifth-year option gets picked up by the Minnesota Vikings. Not a chance."

In his view, McCarthy is basically halfway through his tenure in Minnesota, and the path may be to wait and then go "kill it somewhere else." Rich imagines that stings, especially since everyone is trying to get into O'Connell's system and learn from him. McCarthy doesn't want to be Jordan Love the scout team quarterback. He wants Love's wait-then-thrive story, which happened in the building that drafted him.

It happens, the room agreed. Baker Mayfield got knocked around and just signed for $55 million a year. Darnold waited years.

Rich, a Michigan man, also brought up how McCarthy gets used as an avatar for Michigan's national champions "stinking on ice" in the NFL, as if the program only won because of stolen signs. His rebuttal was one game. When McCarthy beat Ohio State in the Horseshoe, Michigan was down at halftime. "Worst way to cheat ever is to still be down at halftime."

Someone on set noted that if McCarthy plays this year, it probably means everything has gone wrong, with injuries to both Murray and Wentz. And as Rich has pointed out with backups before, they don't get practice reps, so the head coach doesn't really see them in action to reevaluate.

Rich marveled at how it all fits together. Tagovailoa and Murray both got fresh starts. Tagovailoa might not answer the bell, making way for Rush. Wentz leapfrogged the quarterback whose knee injury cost him his development, while the quarterback he beat for the title, Penix, still seems likely to get his chance.

"And the coaches are both named Kevin."