J.J. McCarthy and Anthony Richardson face a steep second-chance test
Recent first-round QB history shows another start is possible for McCarthy and Richardson, but a true franchise reset is rare.
By Deshawn Carter · Sports Writer
3 min read
The J.J. McCarthy Anthony Richardson future debate has reached a hard turn. CBS Sports reports that Minnesota has named Kyler Murray its starting quarterback as McCarthy enters his third NFL season with 10 starts, while Daniel Jones is established as Indianapolis’ starter and Richardson is competing with Riley Leonard for the Colts’ backup job.
Both were premium draft picks, McCarthy 10th overall and Richardson fourth overall, but their original clubs are no longer treating them as the clear answer at quarterback, according to CBS Sports. That does not end an NFL career. History suggests it makes the route back much narrower.
Can J.J. McCarthy and Anthony Richardson become NFL starters again?
They can get another opportunity, based on CBS Sports’ review of recent first-round quarterbacks. A long-term reset as a franchise starter has been far less common.
The review focused on first-round passers whose teams had made a clear organizational move by the end of Year 3: replacing, trading or releasing the player, or heading into the next season with somebody else expected to start. It is a small, selectively defined group, so its results describe recent outcomes rather than predict what will happen to McCarthy or Richardson.
The seven-quarterback group was Josh Rosen, Dwayne Haskins, Sam Darnold, Zach Wilson, Mac Jones, Justin Fields and Kenny Pickett. Trey Lance and Paxton Lynch were discussed as related examples but were not included in the main sample because they had not held their original starting jobs long enough for the same comparison.
- Five of the seven later started another NFL game.
- Three made at least 10 additional starts.
- Two later posted a top-16 season in EPA per dropback, a measure of a quarterback’s expected points impact per passing play.
- One clearly returned to franchise-quarterback status.
That progression is the squeeze. Another start was attainable for most players in the sample. Sustained work was tougher. A full return to being a team’s settled QB1 was the outlier.
Darnold offers hope, but not a quick fix
CBS Sports identifies Darnold as the clearest turnaround. His resurgence did not come right after the New York Jets moved on: he played in Carolina, spent 2023 as Brock Purdy’s backup in San Francisco, then broke through in 2024, four seasons after his final Jets year.
Darnold finished 14th among qualifying quarterbacks in EPA per dropback that season and earned an 80.3 Pro Football Focus passing grade, CBS Sports reported. His career is evidence that a quarterback’s first stop need not define him, but also that recovery can take years and several roles.
Mac Jones provides a more limited encouraging case. CBS Sports reported that he ranked 12th among qualifying quarterbacks with a plus-0.07 EPA per dropback while filling in for Purdy in 2025, alongside a 76.0 PFF passing grade. The outlet said that performance had not made Jones an unquestioned starter.
Richardson may yet get a different setting. A Yahoo-hosted Sporting News report said in February that Indianapolis had given him permission to seek a trade, and attributed to NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe a report that Minnesota could have interest. No Vikings move was confirmed, and any McCarthy-Richardson competition in Minnesota remains hypothetical.
For now, the historical picture is blunt: another chance is plausible. Turning it into a second franchise career is the real test.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS Sports.