Vikings Golden Boy Speaks
It’s that time.
Vikings OTAs are here, and unsurprisingly, the new quarterback is all the rage.
The Minnesota Vikings have returned from a 4.5-month layoff after losing in the playoffs to the Los Angeles Rams, hungry to maintain or improve a 14-3 record from 2024.
That, of course, won’t be easy, but one item is outwardly and undeniably exciting: the time has arrived for Vikings golden boy quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
J.J. McCarthy Speaks
Minnesota selected McCarthy in Round 1 of the 2024 NFL Draft, the much-anticipated swing for the fences by the Vikings to find a quarterback of the future. Regrettably, McCarthy tore his meniscus after just one preseason game, totally stunting his momentum to grab the QB1 job in 2024.
Well, McCarthy is fully healed. The man is back.
McCarthy claimed this week that his natural maturation has helped him in the last 10 months while recovering from the meniscus tear: “I would say just naturally age. Being able to be here the entire offseason, work out five days a week and just consistently stack those days because over time it’s going to show up to how I feel now.”
“It feels amazing. When you get it taken away from you, you take every chance you get to be back out here and really appreciate it, really take the most out of it. There’s just nothing better than being out here with the boys, playing some ball.”
The Vikings have quarterbacks Sam Howell, Brett Rypien, and Max Brosmer on the depth chart, but none are expected to seriously contend for the QB1 job.
McCarthy also mentioned his development: “I would say the familiarity within the offense. Just being able to regurgitate play calls and understand where guys are at, where they’re supposed to be if they’re not there. Yeah, the familiarity in the offense is the biggest change.”
Kevin O’Connell on J.J. McCarthy
Reporters predictably asked Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell, too, about McCarthy, and he wasn’t shy about relaying thoughts.
“Yeah, he’s healthy. He’s done an unbelievable job. You kind of forget the fact that this is his first runway since the injury happened. I think it’s just a credit to the work he put in. There’s been a lot of lonely hours where it’s him and the training staff and the strength staff,” O’Connell told the media on Wednesday.
“Just the work he’s put in to get his body where he’s at, and the arm feeling the way it is, and then of course coming off the injury, his lower body feeling as good as it does, to move the way he’s doing. He looks great. He’s feeling really good. Now we just gotta stack a lot of really good days together this spring together.”
Without McCarthy in 2024, O’Connell guided Sam Darnold and the Vikings to 14 wins and a playoff appearance in a season when sportsbooks believed Minnesota would win six or seven games.
O’Connell continued, “We can’t assume that he knows any particular thing just based upon the meeting room. We gotta come out and feel it and organically feel exactly where he’s at. What I’ve been really surprised by is some of the things that he does know. You’re like, ‘man, we covered that in a 10-minute burst in Week 11 last year. How do you remember that?’ And then there are some other things where you’re like, ‘Oh, I assumed he knew that.'”
“So what’s our job? Baseline teaching and stacking days and layered learning so that we’re constantly making him feel like he’s growing, but never comfortable, never satisfied on any particular outcome because we’re building towards something much greater than just a single play here or there.”
The One Big Hope
McCarthy’s expedient injury recovery and attitude are vital for one reason: He’s the one big hope for Vikings football over the next few years and perhaps — hopefully — beyond.
Minnesota’s defense was sculpted in heaven for a rookie quarterback to relish. The offensive playmakers are to die for. And O’Connell personally is known as a “quarterback whisperer.”
Everything is set up so nicely for McCarthy that if he doesn’t blossom into a franchise quarterback, the Vikings may never get it right. For perspective, one must ask herself, what could be better about McCarthy’s situation?
7 Years of Kirk Cousins + Sam Darnold Kaput
From 2018 to 2024 — seven seasons — the Vikings employed Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnold at the top of the ticket. For six years, Cousins did his damndest to help the purple team reach The Promised Land, but it just didn’t work. Something was always wrong. When the defense was fantastic in 2018, for instance, Cousins wasn’t in premier form.
When Cousins hit his stride in 2020, 2021, and 2022, the Vikings’ defense stunk.
Now, fans hope that it all comes together for McCarthy.
A Countdown to Showtime
McCarthy and the Vikings will face a deadly 2025 regular season schedule, ranked fifth-toughest per most strength-of-schedule metrics. The NFL also isn’t bashful about tossing McCarthy under the lights of primetime.
In fact, McCarthy’s first regular season game will occur at Soldier Field against the rival Chicago Bears in 102 days.
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