6 Reasons Why Vikings Should Start the J.J. McCarthy Era
The Minnesota Vikings have a meaty quarterback decision to make this offseason: whether to re-sign Sam Darnold, start J.J. McCarthy, or hope to have it both ways.
6 Reasons Why Vikings Should Start the J.J. McCarthy Era
Because Darnold helped the purple team win 14 games in 2024 — out of nowhere — there’s a reasonable case to welcome him back for a sequel.
But here’s why that’s silly and why the Vikings should kickstart the McCarthy era … now. Yes, let Darnold walk.
1. The Salary Cap
Minnesota is on deck to have a glorious salary cap standing for the next four years, employing McCarthy on a rookie deal through the end of 2028.
That’s optimal for team-building if McCarthy morphs into a Top 10 quarterback.
Paying Sam Darnold — or Kirk Cousins in the past — a contract worth $40+ million annually ends that era of wise strategic roster construction. In fact, if Minnesota re-upped with Darnold for megabucks in 2025, the window would shrink to three years with McCarthy on his affordable deal.
The salary cap screams for McCarthy as QB1. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah can then embark on a spending bonanza in March. He cannot do that while re-signing Darnold unless he backloads Darnold’s would-be contract with void years.
2. McCarthy’s Upside
The Vikings didn’t draft McCarthy to be the 16th-best quarterback in the NFL, nor did they choose him while assuming he’d faceplant in the playoffs — as Darnold did last month.
The 22-year-old is Minnesota’s one big hope of copying the Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, or Justin Herbert model. And that’s untapping the upside of a franchise quarterback from the draft. Otherwise, Minnesota can continue its commitment to retread passers like Darnold, Cousins, Case Keenum, Joshua Dobbs, and countless others.
McCarthy has the upside to be better than Darnold. Plain and simple.
3. The Ugly Darnold Truth
Sam Darnold vaporized in the season’s two most important games. He has it in his DNA to do it again. Why would next time be different?
To be clear, If Minnesota re-upped with Darnold, he would play great at training camp, in the preseason, and in the regular season. Set a clock to it. And then everyone would just wait a full year to see if he exorcised his playoff demons.
The Vikings don’t have time for that trial.
It’s somewhat unlikely that McCarthy will capsize in the postseason like Darnold. On Darnold, don’t make the same mistake two years in a row. Let him walk.
4. The Plan All Along
Adofo-Mensah carefully constructed a “competitive roster rebuild” since taking the big job in 2022.
Reuniting with an expensive quarterback who flunked the postseason test would be the weirdest deviation from a sweet plan in Vikings history.
Adofo-Mensah did not execute his rebuild on a whim. He named McCarthy his QB1 answer last April, and he should stick to the plan.
5. The Loyalty to McCarthy
Perhaps if Darnold had led Minnesota to a Super Bowl appearance or win, keeping him as the long-term solution could be embraced.
But Darnold didn’t do that. He flamed out when it mattered the most.
To give Darnold the QB1 baton over McCarthy would portray uncharacteristic disloyalty to McCarthy, who was all but promised the keys to the franchise during last year’s draft. Or, at the very least, McCarthy would earn an honest-to-goodness audition.
Picking Darnold over McCarthy just doesn’t feel like the honorable thing to do after a meniscus injury.
6. It’s Time to Do Things Differently
The Vikings have tried forcing Randall Cunningham, Jeff George, Warren Moon, and other notable quarterbacks into the QB1 role over the last few decades, tasking them with winning a Super Bowl when organically drafted Vikings rookies have failed.
It hasn’t worked.
Like Tom Brady in New England or Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City, it’s time to try the draft again. McCarthy belongs to the Vikings, and the Vikings belong to McCarthy.
Try the change-oriented way, and ignore the temptation of hoping to win the chip with another team’s quarterback.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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