Former NFLer Issues Blunt Warning to J.J. McCarthy
J.J. McCarthy will encounter a roster with all the trimmings in 2025, his first season as a starter, all courtesy of general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
Willie Colon has a clear message for Vikings rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy, and it’s the harsh version of what everybody’s already thinking.
And according to ex-NFLer Willie Colon, it’s up to McCarthy not to screw it all up.
The former New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman levied the stern warning on Good Morning Football this week.
J.J. McCarthy Better Not Screw It Up — Is the Working Theory
McCarthy has a sweet depth chart around him, and folks are noticing.
Willie Colon Says J.J. McCarthy Has the Keys to the Porsche
Colon, evidently with a flair for the dramatic, said on GMFB this week, “He’s been given the keys to the Porsche. Just don’t crash it, young man.”
“This team is ready to win now. All he has to do is play quarterback.”
McCarthy missed his entire rookie season in 2024 after tearing his meniscus in a preseason game against the Las Vegas Raiders. The Michigan alumnus actually performed marvelously in the small sample, and within a few days, he revealed the meniscus injury, and that was that on his maiden voyage season.
Since recovered, McCarthy now has the Vikings’ QB1 job in sight, bound and determined to formally win the job this summer at training camp and in the preseason.
A Little Dramatic
So, Colon’s warning is understandable. Minnesota, indeed, has a complementary depth chart for McCarthy. The team may not have been able to assemble a better roster if it had tried five more times.
Yet, foreboding statements like “don’t crash the car” might be a bit overblown, especially for a 22-year-old quarterback.
McCarthy will assuredly “crash the car” a few times. It’s what young quarterbacks do. McCarthy essentially must trend in the right direction this season. He won’t be expected to perform mistake-free.
J.J. McCarthy Will Have Time to Develop
McCarthy’s mentor, head coach Kevin O’Connell, has also emphasized the importance of patience and commitment when it comes to developing young quarterbacks. There will be no hot seat for McCarthy in 2025. The man will face setbacks. Peaks and valleys.
His contract connects him to the Vikings through the end of the 2028 campaign. Ergo, this season will be about starting the relationship off right.
If McCarthy dazzles in Year No. 1 as a starter, like Jayden Daniels in 2024, it will merely be a perk.
Colon Is Correct That the Time Is Now, However
On the other hand, Colon is correct about Minnesota’s Super Bowl window.
Adofo-Mensah constructed his competitive rebuild strategy so that 2025 and beyond is go-time. Other than McCarthy, the great unknown in the summer of 2025, the rest of the depth chart is poised to fulfill a Super Bowl mission.
In Colon’s words, all McCarthy has to do is avoid playing like a fool. If he’s semi-productive, the Vikings should reach the postseason for a second consecutive year. Minnesota hasn’t joined the playoff tournament in back-to-back seasons since 2008-2009.
More on McCarthy
Zone Coverage‘s Tyler Ireland wrote Tuesday about McCarthy and the Vikings’ spot in the NFL pecking order: “The Vikings aren’t a win-now team in the traditional sense. They have all the pieces to make a deep playoff run. However, a first-year quarterback has never won the Super Bowl since they started playing the big game 60 years ago, and neither have the Vikings.”
“So, expecting J.J. McCarthy to make history by winning the franchise’s first-ever Lombardi and thus breaking the Ed Thorp curse would be an unrealistic expectation. Therefore, one could make the argument that McCarthy’s development from the beginning to the end of the season is more important than wins and losses.”
Minnesota has +2800 odds to win the Super Bowl.
Ireland continued, “Given that the Vikings won 14 games last year and led the NFL in 2025 payroll, there’s a certain level of pressure to win now. With pundits saying that McCarthy is entering the perfect situation, it would be even more jarring if the Minnesota Vikings won fewer than their projected 8.5-game win total. Coupled with the fact that Kevin O’Connell is 0-2 in the playoffs entering his fourth year as head coach, there has to be some level of urgency to be in playoff contention at the very least.”
“Whether or not they make the playoffs could be a determining factor in how the fans and the media view the 2025 Vikings. For example, winning 10 games against the fifth-toughest strength of schedule could make up for the Vikings losing four more games compared to the 2024 season.”
McCarthy’s Vikings kick off training camp in 17 days.
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