Does J.J. McCarthy stand a chance in Minnesota? Schefter says... | The Pat McAfee Show

0:00 Senior NFL insider for ESPN, Adam Shaft.

0:04 Yeah, Chef Dy.

0:06 What's going on, GUYS?

0:07 OH, GEE.

0:08 ALL RIGHT.

0:09 Chef Dy,

0:10 where are you, Chef?

0:10 What do you got going on here, pal?

0:12 You're under an umbrella of sort.

0:14 Yeah, I'm in uh I am in Florida right now.

0:16 There's a Michigan event here.

0:18 I guess a fundraising event through the champion

0:20 circle and they've got all these Michigan players,

0:24 coaches, football program, basketball program,

0:26 and there's a function tonight to raise money for the program

0:29 and so came down here mcing a conversation out at a football event.

0:33 I mean, I can show you the field.

0:35 I'm off to the side right now.

0:36 Otherwise, we would have had some surprise guests,

0:38 but uh we are now in the shade, so that's a good thing.

0:41 And happy to discuss football today.

0:43 By the way, Pat, breaking news.

0:45 Breaking news.

0:47 It looks like the NFL and the NFL RA have reached an agreement.

0:51 We should hear word of that fairly soon, but that's going to come down soon.

0:54 Let the league will be able to avoid replacement officials.

0:57 But there's some information going around right now that agreement has been

1:00 reached and I would imagine we're going to hear about that very shortly.

1:05 WAY TO GO.

1:06 THANK YOU FOR THE NEWS, SHIFTY.

1:07 You're at a Michigan Let's Fund a Better Football Team event happening down

1:11 there in Florida uh for the refs Association to uh ratify the vote.

1:16 I believe the the poll the voting a hours or window

1:19 opened last night cuz I thought we'd get an answer last night.

1:22 I guess it was just a window opened.

1:24 I don't know if it was via email to all of its members,

1:26 but there was a a window closing for when the vote ended.

1:29 We didn't know when we were going to get a response on that.

1:31 We thought if they went to a vote that means they were going to approve it.

1:34 You're saying they have.

1:36 That is gigantic news.

1:37 I I I don't think especially with the number of eyes that are on the game now,

1:42 uh with the amount of countries that are in on the game,

1:44 the amount of gambling that's in on the game right now,

1:46 what happened before with the replacement refs was

1:49 an embarrassment to our sport, to our league,

1:51 to everything, it could have ruined everything,

1:54 and I know that the refs knew that.

1:56 So, the fact that they kind of bent and gave

1:59 in whatever the NFL is looking for, and the fact

2:01 that the NFL did the same for the refs to make sure they get this done early,

2:05 I think here, this is a couple weeks early.

2:07 Congrats to all party, Shephy.

2:08 Legit, that is huge for us as football fans.

2:11 That is gigantic.

2:12 And I don't think people really understand how

2:14 big that really is at this state of time.

2:16 That that's an it's a huge deal.

2:18 And they're able to avoid replacement officials and they get the CBA done.

2:22 And there obviously have been a lot of discussion about

2:25 how dire dire talks had been in January, February, March.

2:30 Uh oh, we're getting texts about it right now, it looks like.

2:34 Oh, yeah.

2:34 There it is.

2:35 Yep.

2:36 Okay, here we go.

2:37 Here we go.

2:38 Okay, the NFL Oh, yeah.

2:40 It's official.

2:42 Seven Sevenyear collective bargaining agreement.

2:47 Congratulations.

2:47 Coming in right now.

2:49 Congratulations NFL and the NFL REFOCIATION.

2:52 SEVEN YEARS YOU HAVE AGREED to keep the game the game

2:54 the league the league to keep the integrity of the game together.

2:59 You two great entities have come together

3:02 to become better officials with more accountability.

3:05 and a little bit more advancement of technology and you as a league

3:09 having the best officials in the world would be a great thing to happen.

3:12 So you two agreeing to do that, congratulations and thank you.

3:16 Hell yeah.

3:16 It's official.

3:17 Say chef D on a beach down here in Florida next to a football field.

3:20 It's official.

3:21 Yeah.

3:21 In fact, Pat Pat, we're going to tweet it out right now as we're going.

3:24 We're going to put it on the ESPN alert.

3:26 You're going to get all the news here on all

3:27 the platforms as we're doing this because this is what we do.

3:30 We try to multitask.

3:32 So we're going to send out all the information everywhere.

3:34 Well, how's the Wi-Fi down there?

3:35 THE WI-FI IS BAD.

3:36 WI-FI IS ALL RIGHT.

3:38 THE TWEET is up.

3:38 The NFL and the NFL referees association have good picture.

3:42 Go ahead.

3:42 Keep going, Pat.

3:43 Well, I was going to read your tweet there that you

3:44 were either typing up or you had your talk to text,

3:47 which is why you were talking in a text

3:48 form whenever you told us that the news was breaking.

3:52 Whatever the case, 7-year deal,

3:54 the current deal was scheduled to expire on May 31st.

3:56 It goes through 2032.

3:57 Congrats to all parties.

3:58 And I love the photo you chose to use there.

4:01 Yeah, good compromise.

4:01 They all look kind of pissed.

4:02 Yeah.

4:03 Kind of pissed, but also understand they got to work together.

4:05 Yeah.

4:06 And uh I think everybody's happy here.

4:08 This is good news for the league.

4:09 This is good news for everybody.

4:10 This is good news for both.

4:12 Yes, it is.

4:13 Congrats to football.

4:14 Congrats football.

4:16 Okay, let's talk about some other football

4:17 news as you're standing next to a football

4:18 field in Florida about to raise millions

4:22 and millions of dollars for the Michigan Athletics program,

4:26 which is not just football by the way, a lot of Olympic sports.

4:28 and you can act like it's a good thing

4:30 and for the future and all that, but what they're doing right there

4:32 is showcasing why they are going to be able to continue

4:34 to compete in athletics in college and some other places won't.

4:37 This comes fresh off the news that the University of Michigan were one

4:40 of the initial investors of Open AI

4:43 and now their investment is worth $2 billion.

4:46 The University of Michigan invested early in Open AI.

4:50 Okay, I don't know how they have an investment fund at a University of Michigan,

4:53 but obviously they do.

4:54 That makes sense that they have that.

4:56 They found this.

4:57 they get in on it because the networks that is now $2 billion in uh profit.

5:02 Who knows if they pull that if they have

5:04 that but that could certainly help you get a quarterback.

5:06 Pretty good investment.

5:07 That can certainly help and Sher certainly doing all he can.

5:09 Good luck to you guys over there in Ohio.

5:12 AJ, now let's keep it moving in the NFL conversation.

5:15 AJ has a question for you.

5:16 Michigan man.

5:17 Yeah, Chef Dwan Jennings signs with the Minnesota Vikings, I guess.

5:20 How how did this come about and what

5:22 other teams were possibly in play for Jennings?

5:25 You know, the interesting thing, AJ,

5:26 is I was told that there were a few other teams.

5:28 I can go back and get the exact list.

5:30 I think it was the Dolphins, the Commanders.

5:33 Um, there was somebody else that was interested.

5:36 The Vikings were the only team that I believe he wound up visiting at all.

5:43 That was the only one.

5:43 The other team, oh, the Chiefs

5:45 and Commanders also were interested in Jawan Jennings.

5:49 Also expressed a little interest.

5:51 um Washington, Kansas City,

5:53 but ultimately you got a one-year deal for Minnesota worth up to $13 million.

5:57 It's about $8 million in base pay.

6:00 And so, look, I think that ideally you want

6:02 to get these deals done as early as you can agency,

6:05 but he was able to salvage a pretty good situation.

6:07 And now we got a we got a lot of JJs in Minnesota.

6:10 JJ McCarthy, who's out here right now, we go talk to him in a little bit.

6:14 JJ McCarthy, Justin Jefferson, another JJ.

6:17 Jawan Jennings, another JJ.

6:18 Like if you are a JJ,

6:20 JJ Span might wind up playing for the Minnesota

6:22 Vikings this year for all we know.

6:24 Yeah.

6:24 JJ Watt maybe comes out of a couple of games.

6:26 I mean, there's a chance that a lot

6:27 of these JJs could potentially go cray for the Minnesota Vikings.

6:30 You just mentioned JJ McCarthy there who we saw at a wild

6:33 game a couple nights ago going crazy with the lads and also incredible.

6:36 A you know what I want?

6:37 Bang.

6:38 Okay, so we talked about this actually.

6:39 Uh the way he took his hand and put it to Ray here.

6:42 It was pretty evident what he was looking for.

6:44 Okay, this is a one dap slapper here that everybody

6:48 in the world understands that no matter how much chaos is happening here,

6:52 my guy right next to me shows me this.

6:54 I know what's coming.

6:55 Everybody knows that's a bang to boom and a pow and we're out of there.

6:58 Okay, I like that he's doing that.

7:00 That's good communication.

7:02 Okay, that's good.

7:02 Non-verbal communication from this guy might lead to better awareness

7:06 on the field as he continues to grow as an NFL quarterback.

7:09 There's others that give you a little happy here.

7:11 Okay, is that a[ __] handshake or a high five or a dap up?

7:14 What are we doing here?

7:15 I don't know.

7:16 Some people, you know, go with the fist bump straight ahead,

7:19 then open hand, then back to the thing.

7:21 You're not letting me know what you need.

7:22 JJ handles the moment perfectly, I'd say, with a, hey, you know what's coming.

7:27 I'm smacking the[ __] out of your hand.

7:29 Guy that has a button down tucked in at a hockey game.

7:32 So, I mean, that is just good stuff.

7:34 Let's explore that conversation a little bit more.

7:37 Go ahead, Tone.

7:38 Yeah, Shifty.

7:38 with seen him with the boys being here at at the game.

7:41 It was it just rattled my brain like is is Kyler definitely going to be

7:45 the starter or is this an open competition you think going into training camp?

7:49 Uh well I think that uh oh we have we have more we have more news.

7:56 Oh we have more news.

7:57 Oh JJ the NFL has confirmed that the schedule release will take

8:00 place on Thursday this a week or six days from now.

8:05 Thursday, May 14th, the NFL schedule will come out in its entirety,

8:10 Pat, so we can begin to get ready for next Thursday.

8:12 There it is.

8:13 The news, like, who would have ever thought Friday at 12:35

8:18 that the news is going to be pouring in here,

8:20 but that's what's going on right now.

8:21 Well, Shifty, listen.

8:22 The NFL's 247, especially on Friday news dump days,

8:26 and we know we're in the middle of one of those.

8:28 May 8th, 2026 in the spring.

8:31 Got a big weekend of sports ahead.

8:34 Oh yeah, and a bunch of NFL shit's about to be dropped on everybody's and Fanta.

8:39 Yeah.

8:39 Yeah, you're right.

8:40 Lot of stuff going on.

8:42 Shout out to the schedule coming out next Thursday.

8:44 There was a little bit of hubbhub about

8:45 them potentially delaying the schedule release because not

8:48 knowing what uh platform the game is

8:50 on or maybe they don't know which games are when.

8:53 Uh our source says at the league said that that was not the case.

8:57 There was just, you know, we're just still trying to figure it out.

9:00 There was a comment made on a podcast before the draft

9:02 by somebody was like and that got kind of taken out of context.

9:06 Now it's official.

9:07 It's coming out on Thursday.

9:08 Excited to see what games are when and where.

9:11 Remember the division games, okay,

9:14 the placement of those are always big conversation pieces early and late.

9:18 Used to be division games are kind of as you

9:20 worked in because they're the most important games.

9:22 The NFL wanted to start with a bang with division games.

9:24 So, a lot of teams were having their most

9:26 important crucial games at the very beginning of the season,

9:28 which gave us better football,

9:29 but had very big big possible ripple effects very early in the season.

9:34 I'm excited to see what the schedule masters do this year.

9:37 Now, back to the question.

9:38 You can't say JJ McCarthy is not going to be

9:40 the starter because he's 10 feet away from you.

9:43 More breaking news.

9:45 What?

9:44 The Green Bay Packers have released Brandon McManus, their kicker,

9:48 after they drafted the kicker from Florida in the sixth round.

9:51 And they paid Brandon Mcmanis a lot of money.

9:54 They gave him a three-year $15 million deal last off seasonason.

9:57 They paid him his $1 million roster bonus in March,

10:00 but they have already moved on from Brandon McManus

10:03 after drafting Trey Smack in the sixth round last month.

10:06 So, there'll be a new kicker in Green Bay.

10:08 So much for the competition that they thought they were going to have.

10:11 They have now moved on from him.

10:13 So, again, a lot a lot of news here.

10:15 All of a sudden, we got a new kicker in Green Bay.

10:16 We got the NFL schedule next Thursday.

10:18 We got a seven-year labor agreement between the NFL RA and the NFL uh itself

10:24 and and we have James McCarthy out here

10:25 to go talk to you about the Vikings quarterback competition,

10:28 which I'm happy to get back to if you'd like to.

10:30 Okay.

10:30 So, let's expand on Brandon McManus there

10:32 because he started with the Indianapolis Colts.

10:34 I know him.

10:34 Super Bowl champion has uh done incredible things in the NFL.

10:38 Missed more kicks than he would ever like or have on his entire resume.

10:42 I assume he'll bounce back, go somewhere.

10:44 Anytime they say there's a competition between two kickers,

10:47 that's always one more roster spot that's getting taken up by a kicker,

10:49 especially in this offseason as you're

10:51 trying to acrue numbers and create things.

10:52 I assume McManus understood the situation whenever

10:55 this guy was drafted out of Florida.

10:56 This guy that got drafted out of Florida bombs balls.

10:59 We watched him kick.

11:00 Hopefully he's good.

11:00 Hopefully McManis continues to go on.

11:02 Seven-year ref agreement.

11:04 That is awesome.

11:05 Schedule release coming out Thursday.

11:06 Spectacular.

11:07 Starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings.

11:09 Michigan man JJ McCarthy who's 10 feet away from you or Kyler Murray.

11:13 Is that an actual competition?

11:14 How do you see that going?

11:17 Listen, I'm not ready to write off JJ yet.

11:19 Look, Kyler Murray's got a great opportunity in front of him.

11:21 It's probably as good of an opportunity as he's had in a long time.

11:24 When you look at all the talent surrounding Kyler Murray, he's got Jordan Mason,

11:28 he's got Aaron Jones, he's got TJ Hawinson,

11:30 he's got Justin Jefferson, got Jordan, he's got Joan Jennings.

11:33 Right now, there is a boatload of talent in Minnesota.

11:36 And that doesn't even include a head

11:39 coach who's obviously adapt and proficient at getting

11:42 these offensive plays in and and having

11:44 the offensive production that Kevin Oonnell has.

11:47 I I I think I don't know a handicap.

11:50 Look, I think a lot of people believe that Kyler

11:52 is going to wind up as the starting quarterback,

11:54 but I think JJ is going to give him a run still.

11:56 I don't think the Vikings are willing to give up on JJ McCarthy just yet.

12:00 I think they've got two good quarterbacks there.

12:03 Um, I mean, these are two high draft picks, so it'll play out.

12:08 But I think a lot of people believe Tyler's gonna prevail and win the job.

12:12 But again, I'm not ready to give up on JJ just yet.

12:14 Okay.

12:14 I'm excited to watch it all unfold.

12:16 Obviously, uh, Kevin Oonnell's offense is one that is spectacular.

12:19 They're able to sign another wide receiver

12:21 who had other options than Jawan Jennings.

12:23 Without telling him who the starting quarterback's going to be,

12:26 that's how prolific that offense can be and should be.

12:29 Hopefully JJ can continue to get better.

12:31 And if Kyler ends up the quarterback of a Kevin

12:33 Okonnell offense as a diehard Vikings fan for his entire

12:36 life and has a full resurgence of being the guy

12:38 that maybe we thought or hoped he could be, that's a great story, too.

12:41 Good luck to all parties.

12:42 The Vikings are currently interviewing for a GM.

12:44 When's that going to happen?

12:46 Say that again.

12:47 Feels like Jawan Jennings just signed there.

12:49 They don't got GM.

12:50 So, I mean, are they going to get a GM or is Kevin O'Connor running things?

12:53 Like, how how's that kind of all go over there?

12:56 Uh, no.

12:57 It they've got about six, seven guys that are on the list right now.

13:01 they've submitted um they've got turnkey a search

13:03 firm helping them to identify the right candidate.

13:07 Uh it they've got a situation where they've identified

13:10 all these candidates and they're going to interview them,

13:15 go through the process and we'll see where they get the information from.

13:19 But uh who they wind up hiring but I

13:23 think it'll it'll uh play out here pretty quickly.

13:26 Rob Rosinski is the current interim GM.

13:28 He's done a great job there and I think

13:30 somebody that has been overlooked there for a while, he'll have an opportunity,

13:33 but they've got some really interesting candidates

13:35 on their list that they've reached out to arrange interviews.

13:38 Okay, I cannot wait to see how it works out there.

13:40 Griggson also potentially in there.

13:42 Former Colts general manager who had uh you know,

13:45 not necessarily the greatest ending in Indianapolis, but did have winning teams.

13:50 Kind of seemingly had to go back earn his way

13:53 back up to a position to be in interviews again.

13:55 I had a nice chance to catch up with him.

13:57 feels like he's a different person where he's at now.

13:59 Second opportunity is normally good for people

14:01 in the NFL or completely asked both times,

14:03 but I don't think that'll be the case.

14:04 Uh there's so many good talents out there, only 32 jobs just like in coaching,

14:08 but there's only one senior NFL insider and that's this man down in Florida.

14:13 We appreciate the hell out of you, Shifty.

14:16 Pat, no more things tonight.

14:17 I got I gave you all I got today.

14:19 That's all I got today.

14:20 Well, tonight you need to go give it a little bit more.

14:22 I think there's a lot of money in that room, Shifty.

14:23 Let's be smart.

14:24 Oh, there's there's a lot of money in that room tonight, PAT.

14:27 A LOT OF MONEY.

14:28 OKAY.

14:28 ALL RIGHT.

14:28 ALL RIGHT.

14:29 THAT'S ADAM SHER, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.