The Minnesota Vikings were surprised last year by the resurgence of Sam Darnold at the quarterback position. Darnold was thrust into the starting role after the Vikings ‘ first-round draft pick from last offseason, J.J. McCarthy, lost his rookie year to a meniscus injury he suffered in the preseason.
However, despite the success he had as a Viking last season, Darnold elected to sign with the Seattle Seahawks earlier this offseason, replacing Geno Smith at the position, who the Seahawks traded to the Las Vegas Raiders.
Although the Vikings have been linked to the veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers in recent weeks, the expectation around the league is that a fully healthy McCarthy will serve as the starter in Minnesota.
Now, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell is giving his thoughts on McCarthy’s readiness heading into the 2025 campaign.
“He’s always working,” O’Connell said, according to Pro Football Talk. “I think the spring is set up perfectly for J.J. with where he’s at from a standpoint of Phase I really being in a classroom setting, running and lifting, and continuing what he’s been able to do.
A lot of his teammates haven’t been here, now the group comes back, he continues that, and eventually gets on the field and we can start throwing and catching a little bit before finalizing those two-three weeks of OTAs and minicamp where you get a little dabble of that competitive feel — running the huddle, running the show.
“So, all of it is going to kind of be systematically planned out for him. And I think he’s ready to attack it.”
O’Connell said that McCarthy has been able to make all the throws the offense will require of him.
“Now it’s just a matter of applying it with teammates and with detail,” O’Connell said. “And with repetition to try to apply those reps so we can start projecting what not only he can continue to improve at, what are the areas need to focus on?
“How can we craft this offense to make sure that we’re doing the things that he does well naturally while also challenging him to grow that pot of inventory that we can ultimately pull from.”
That wasn’t all O’Connell offered, either.
“Now, it becomes a real more tangible day-in and day-out,” he said. “We can create a world here where it might not feel like a checkpoint, it might not feel like another step in the process, but you’re stacking so many days and time with his teammates together, and just the growth through the installations and how do these quarterback first with those installations and his absorption of what we’re doing.
“We’ve got a new center in Ryan Kelly, a veteran who’s going to be heavily involved in that aspect with the quarterback-center dynamic. And thankfully, we’ve got a lot of really high-quality skill players that J.J.’s already worked with in the past and thrown and caught with before.
“So, it’ll be a matter of what do the Xs and Os look like when there’s not competitive games? What do the fundamentals and technique look like when we’re really just trying to harness growth?
“And then that development word comes in where we might not be talking in the same lens that we were in a year ago when everything was brand new. That’s the beauty of the year we’ve had with him, albeit without the physical reps since the injury. But there’s been a lot of time on task and just once again want to credit J.J. for how he’s handled these last two, two-and-a-half, three months or so where I think he’s ready to hit the ground running as of today.”
