Who Should I Start? Joe Burrow or J.J. McCarthy

Sunday, January 4, 6:23 PM

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow finished off the 2025 season on a strong note during Sunday's game against the Cleveland Browns. Burrow completed 29 of 39 passing attempts for 236 yards with three touchdowns and one interception in the loss. Burrow did everything he could, but the special teams unit let him down this week. Burrow finishes the season with 1,809 passing yards with 17 touchdowns and five interceptions in eight games after missing a good portion of the year after having surgery to fix a turf-toe injury. The 29-year-old is clearly one of the best QBs in the league, but his inability to stay healthy is hurting this team. Burrow has missed significant time in two of the last three seasons. The hope is that he'll be able to put together a fully healthy season in 2026.

Tuesday, January 13, 2:54 PM

Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell said he wants a competitive situation at quarterback going into next season, according to Alec Lewis of The Athletic. O'Connell said McCarthy "is going to be a major emphasis," but "the competition in that room will only enhance the entire team." The Vikings want McCarthy to seize the starting job, but he's going to have to earn it and play better than he did in 2026, and the Vikings are fully expected to add to their QB room to push McCarthy this offseason. The 22-year-old former first-round signal-caller missed his entire rookie season in 2024 due to a knee injury that required surgery. McCarthy missed time with multiple injuries in 2025 and struggled with turnovers and efficiency when he was on the field, completing 57.6% of his pass attempts for 1,632 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions in 10 starts. Fantasy managers will want to see improvement from the Michigan product before considering him as anything more than a low-end QB2 option with upside.