All J.J. McCarthy has to do is keep the Minnesota Vikings’ train on the tracks.
The second-year quarterback, who missed his rookie season with a torn meniscus suffered in the 2024 preseason opener, is poised to enter the 2025 campaign as QB1. With that have come plenty of questions and expectations.
However, The Athletic’s Alec Lewis noted that McCarthy’s orders from the Vikings and, presumably, head coach Kevin O’Connell.
“The Vikings tossed him the keys to the Ferrari,” Lewis wrote on July 2. “The directive is simple: Take what’s there; no need to be a hero. Expecting McCarthy to be perfect would be foolish. Thinking he’ll thrive on intermediate routes and anticipatory throws is fair. Most everyone who has spent meaningful time around him raves about him. How he looks will be one of the biggest stories of the NFL season.”
McCarthy’s spring was a mixed bag, with the QB acknowledging he needed to work on becoming more than a “one-speed pitch” kind of passer, but the Vikings remain firmly behind their young field general.
J.J. McCarthy Getting Benefit of Time From Vikings
GettyJ.J. McCarthy #9 of the Minnesota Vikings participates in a drill during training camp.
Lewis noted many positives about McCarthy’s spring, including accuracy and his willingness to experiment with a wider variety of throws compared to the Vikings’ 2024 offseason program, when he was expected to push former starter Sam Darnold.
ESPN’s Dan Graziano noted that McCarthy is indeed still a work in progress, albeit as expected, coming off a lost season.
“He looks the way they would expect him to look at this point in his developmental process, and that’s the key thing: to understand the process,” Graziano said on “NFL Live” in June. “Adam Schefter says there’s nobody under more pressure, but they don’t want him to focus on the pressure he’s under. They want him to focus on the process. Is he ready to start right now? Probably not. Can he be the first weekend in September? The Vikings believe that he can. He’s been working on detailed stuff, fundamental stuff.
“He lost last year due to injuries. So that’s a year of development, he didn’t get working on Altering the trajectory of some of his throes, so that’s been a lot of what the offseason has been like a lot of learning a lot of putting, you know, the lessons into practice for J.J. McCarthy, but Kevin O’Connell would have told you this time last year that Sam Darnold wasn’t ready yet to be their starter, but he believed he could get him there by the first weekend in September, and he did obviously. So, they believe the same thing about J.J. McCarthy. They believe in their process. They think he’ll be ready.”
However, the Vikings are maintaining a realistic view of McCarthy. At least, they are for now, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
“They knew he could start a little slowly. But they like the way he’s throwing the ball, they feel very comfortable with where he’s at going into the training camp,” Fowler reported on “SportsCenter” in June. “They believe in their three-year plan: A young quarterback, they like on a rookie scale.
“They believe they can win a Super Bowl in the next three years.”
Vikings Taking Big Gamble With Inexperienced QB Room
GettyJ.J. McCarthy #9 of the Minnesota Vikings looks on during training camp.
McCarthy is one of four Vikings quarterbacks. Two, Brett Rypien and Sam Howell, have starting experience. Lewis described Rypien as a “trusted vet” with better knowledge of the Vikings’ playbook than most.
Howell is 5-13 in his career, and Lewis questioned the former Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders QB’s “decision-making.”
The only other QB on the Vikings’ roster is rookie undrafted free agent Max Brosmer.
The Vikings, who won 14 games in 2024, are all-in on McCarthy. They had better be correct that they can get him ready for Week 1, when they will open the season on the road against the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football.
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