The Minnesota Vikings have a top-five defense.
They have the most productive receiver in football.
They have a revamped offensive line.
And they just might have their quarterback.
On the second day of joint practices with the New England Patriots, J.J. McCarthy rose to new heights, putting forth what many Vikings beat reporters deemed the best practice of training camp.
McCarthy was dominant, picking apart a Patriots defense under Mike Vraabel that ranks as the No. 9 unit in the league entering the 2025 season.
Boston Herald Patriots beat reporter Andrew Callahan counted McCarthy going 14-for-16 with five touchdowns during red-zone and two-minute drills, which included 13 straight completions.
“He made good decisions with the football. He threw the football accurately. He was absolutely on point today,” Purple Insider’s Matthew Coller said.
A stunning admission followed Coller’s assessment of McCarthy’s practice.
Chad Graff, formerly The Athletic’s Vikings beat reporter before taking the Patriots position with the site, put his proverbial money down on Minnesota.
“Our good friend Chad Graff came up and said, ‘Where do I put my money on the Vikings for the Super Bowl after that practice?’ It was truly that good,” Coller said, clarifying with Pioneer Press beat reporter that what has been discussed of the practice is not hyperbole.
J.J. McCarthy Meets Vikings Expectations After Patriots Practice
It was just one practice, but it’s much more zoomed out.
The honest picture of McCarthy’s development has had its ups and downs. Progression is not linear. But he’s rarely had two bad days of practice in a row.
On Thursday, he didn’t just win a rep. He didn’t just win a series. He didn’t just win the day. He won the summer, showing that, as the NFL’s youngest starting quarterback at just 22 years old, he can be the driving force of the Vikings offense against another team.
He did so without Justin Jefferson, who has sat out most of training camp with a minor hamstring injury.
Things are starting to click for the young quarterback, and he still has room to grow.
For a Vikings organization that has prepared for this moment, pivoting to a quarterback on a rookie-scale contract and building a dominant roster around him through free agency, McCarthy validated the feelings that this team could do something special.
“To have a day like this where everyone is standing around watching that two-minute drill, watching him control it, make good decisions, smart plays, and then a great throw into the end zone for a touchdown… I think everyone walked out of today feeling like, yeah, we can go places,” Coller said.
Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell Reacts to J.J. McCarthy’s Performance vs. Patriots
Kevin O’Connell stood before the press podium with a glowing grin after the day his quarterback had on Thursday.
O’Connell described McCarthy’s performance as “decisive” and with “conviction,” a strong statement from the Vikings head coach who has done his best to temper expectations on his quarterback.
However, at this stage of the preseason last year, Sam Darnold had begun to turn a corner after there was offseason speculation about how far he could take the Vikings.
McCarthy seems to be fitting of that same timeline as Darnold, who went on to win 14 games and earn the first Pro Bowl nod of his career.
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