Let the J.J. McCarthy Show Begin
This weekend, the last of July, the Minnesota Vikings kick off training camp in full swing. Last season, there was plenty of buzz surrounding J.J. McCarthy because he was a first-round pick. That didn’t guarantee he was going to start, though, and veteran Sam Darnold was going to do everything he could to factor in.
J.J. McCarthy is set to take over for the Minnesota Vikings, and he can quickly make his mark on the quarterback position this summer.
Fast forward to where we are now, and this is McCarthy’s team to run. Darnold left for Seattle. Kirk Cousins is rotting away in Atlanta. Sam Howell wasn’t acquired to come in and push for starting reps. The chains are off and McCarthy is the man.
We only got a small glimpse of what J.J. McCarthy could be last season. There were plenty of training camp highlights, but his exposure during the preseason tilt against Las Vegas was the only game action there was. After suffering the unfortunate knee injury, everything else about the Minnesota Vikings’ young signal caller became a hypothetical.
It’s All about J.J. McCarthy for the Vikings This Summer
That isn’t expected to be the case this time around. While we hope for good health, there will be nothing else holding McCarthy back. He will get under center with one of the best wide receiver pairings across the entire NFL. T.J. Hockenson and Josh Oliver will attempt to provide options underneath, and the running back room has been supplemented with the addition of Jordan Mason.
As Kevin O’Connell’s offenses have gone, we have seen points and yards come in bunches despite mediocre quarterback play. The head coach has elevated everyone from Darnold to Nick Mullens, and the play of those signal callers has generated an eye-opening amount of opportunity.
It’s beyond plausible that McCarthy is better than all of them. Despite being called a system quarterback and denigrated for his time at Michigan, this is where the Vikings’ new quarterback can begin to prove it. There will be plenty of highlights shown from training camp. Many will dissect what McCarthy looks like on a throw-by-throw basis.
Ultimately, the time is now for the former first-round pick to show what Minnesota Vikings fans have all been waiting for.
The franchise has swung and missed on quarterbacks in the draft during recent seasons. It doesn’t seem like that’s the case here, and we’ll soon find out.
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