TJ Hockenson Ranks The Quarterbacks He Has Played With

JJ McCarthy yeah bring back your reminder JJ McCarthy JJ McCarthy now you play with a lot of good quarterbacks we can get into that in just a minute but you talk about the 11th overall pick of a national championship winning team JJ mccarthur comes in after Kurt Cousins is now in Atlanta what have you seen from the boy yeah he's been incredible has he yeah I mean well you he seems like a worker yeah he he's grinding in the film room he's grinding in the classroom like he's a baller on the field obviously but like to have a guy like especially a rookie you know when you come into a facility into the league like you you usually need to shut your mouth and like go to work and that that's exactly what he did like he's earned the respect of a lot of guys in there um obviously we have Sam darnold too who is a baller and is can can play the game at a really high level so it'll be interesting what happens with the lot with those two um but I'm excited that JJ's on our team and on our Squad I mean like I said he's a leader um he did that in Michigan and you know I'm sure it'll carry over to the league just as well before the draft happened Kirk Cousins were you pretty Bumm that Kirk went to Atlanta um yeah I you know I love Kirk I mean just a great dude but you can't fault a guy I mean you can only play this game for so long and so you know you may as well make the most of it as as you know that that he's done I mean he's made a lot of money in this league and so you can't fault him at all and obviously that's where Julie his wife is from and so they they have their Roots down there and they have family down there and um yeah I mean I wish nothing but the best for Kirk I mean just aess guy like just such a good dude top not cat D yeah like I mean he he still texts me like hey how you doing what's going on you know like hey can you you have any plays that you know like like that we ran last year that would be good that you remember you know stuff like that he just keeps in touch and so um you got love that for a guy you know cuz it's not at the end of the day it's not just you were a teammate you know you were a friend and so that's that's pretty sweet from him you've got to play with some Matthew Stafford awesome quarterbacks as Taylor was saying how would you if you did tear him out your that's that's aggressive um well you play with great quarterbacks let's the standard great quarterbacks yeah 100% they're they're all fantastic I mean like um coming into the league you know and having Stafford like that was huge for me because Stafford was a guy that was like just get open like I'll throw it to you you know and so like that kind of Let Me Be Free my first couple years in the league like okay all I got to do is beat this guy in front of me and I don't really have to worry about much and staff will put it where I need to um and so that was uh a real stepping stone in like where I've been able to get into the league um and then going from staff to JG you know JG is is like he's all about ball so like he knows like where you need to be at this certain time like when you need to be there like at what depth and that kind of stuff so that kind of taught me like the analytical part of it like why I need to be there based on coverages and like okay you know the League's gotten from you know a lot of man to three match to Zone to you know like cover two and and being able to you know Ben Johnson was the OC and um and he was my tight ends coach for a few years in Detroit and so like he taught me a lot of that and then like he when he became the OC he was he let me like read coverages and like you know hey we have a a pressure right now but like if it's cover two let's just hook on the inside of the numbers because that's where the voids at you know so um I think that was huge for like another steping like actually learning defenses and understanding like what's going on rather than like hey just get open which was awesome like I love that don't get me wrong you know and then going from that to Kirk was you know it was kind of like a mix honestly because um Kirk was like Hey I don't care how you get there but like get there in this timing you know because like I'm playing off my back foot at this point so just get open at that time you know and that was huge and kind of taught me a lot of like the quarterback's progression like okay hey I'm on the backside I'm running a basic route but you know they say it's at 12 but but really I can push this to 14 give him a little sauce at the top and be there for when Kirk needs me you know and you're you know you're run under pressure okay hey you're my first read so if you don't get all the way to 10 not a big deal like hit it at eight and we'll be we'll move the sticks you know so like that was huge and just learning the quarterback position a little bit you know and and understanding what they're doing in the back field like they're going from here to here to here and that was that was that was a nice thing for me to like kind of learn and so um yeah now to have JJ and and Sam like those those guys I mean obviously they're kind of learning their own and like figuring it out um Sam's obviously been in the league for a while but like JJ to have him out there and like you know he's he's trying to figure it out and like that it'll be it's cool because like you can talk to him about different things and like hey like what would you like here and he's like well I don't know let's try it you know and so then you you go out there and you try it and he's like I like that or I didn't like that you know like that'll be cool to kind of be able to have that communication with a guy like that that's young so um yeah I mean I would I've played with a lot of really good quarterbacks and um each one of them have been different which is cool how different is that for you having the quarterbacks with all that understand what they already like and what they know to now being in the position you are where you're like kind of teaching more than you are learning yeah I mean it's it's definitely you know like I say it was really good because each quarterback that I've been with is obviously at the top of the league like and then they have each have their own different little like thing and like what they like and so for me to be in the position I'm in right now with a Young quarterback coming in and um you can talk to him about like hey this is what staff liked hey this is what Kirk liked this is what JG liked you know and so um and he I'm sure he can take pieces from all that you know cuz and have a head coach who was a quarterback yeah and and KO is incredible I mean like KO is one of the one of the best like people like head like he just knows what's going on in football and like he understands the game so well and he's really good at you know you you get around coaches that understand the game really well but then they can't they're not as good at teaching it and KO is like really really good at being communicative and like teaching you like why this is and like why you do that and and that's that's that's hard to come by cuz you know I mean everybody in the league knows the game but like to be able to communicate how they know the game and like where they see it and how they see it that's different and so to have him in that room with um you know with JJ and is going to be a lot of fun for him and it's it's huge and to have KO around us like he comes in our room with an and um you know sits down and and then he'll come out and he'll talk to us and on the field we're running routes he'll be like hey keep this more vertical because of this coverage or like hey keep this you know you can spin out of this a little quicker because of that you know like you're the first read you're the second read you're the third read you're the last read you know that that kind of stuff so it's um it's definitely you know that like my knowledge of the game has has grown a lot just because of the people I've been around and um the people in Minnesota are incredible uh Ben Johnson was Ben Johnson somebody who was in kind of like the you know people wanting him to be their head coach do you see him being a a yeah I mean he can do like Ben can do whatever he wants to do I mean he's one of those people that if he puts his mind to something like he'll he'll do it and he is a is again another one of those people that like is really good at teaching the game and breaks it down into Simplicity like he'll like I I can't you know I mean like my rookie year like I had a tight ends coach who you know wasn't the the best in the world but like Ben and I would go and like sit down and watch film and he was the quality control of the guy at the time you know so we would go to another room we would sit down watch film and he would break down like hey here's Travis's film this is why he does this this is why he's so good here's George's film this is why he does this this is why he's so good and then like being able to pull that and do all like and understanding releases and like he'd break down you know different um route trees and like each part of the route you know and so that was huge I mean Ben's one of the best people I mean like I say I I talk to Ben a lot um he he he can easily be a head coach in this league and you know he's a he's a guy that people like to play for so yeah