EAGAN, Minn. — Many NFL followers have been stunned on the night time of Jan. 5, when the Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback of the longer term bought appreciable air time throughout NBC’s broadcast of the workforce’s 31-9 loss to the Detroit Lions. J.J. McCarthy, who missed his rookie season due to a torn meniscus in his proper knee, appeared thinner than normal as he watched the sport from the sideline in a T-shirt and shorts.
Listed at 219 kilos initially of coaching camp, McCarthy dropped greater than 20 kilos this fall, following a sample acquainted for a lot of soccer gamers who put energy exercises on maintain through the rehabilitation course of. McCarthy has loads of time to regain the load earlier than OTA practices this spring. However his look was a visible image of the impartial phrases Vikings common supervisor Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and coach Kevin O’Connell used final week in discussing his quick future.
McCarthy is considered one of two quarterbacks the Vikings have below contract for 2025 (veteran Brett Rypien), however he solely just lately started on-field coaching and has loads of work remaining to return his physique to soccer situation.
Nationwide dialogue has framed the Vikings’ looming quarterback choice as whether or not they need to re-sign veteran Sam Darnold, who is about to develop into an unrestricted free agent. However their first precedence is to evaluate McCarthy’s capability for a fast ascension.
“He’s … proper the place we hoped he could be at this level,” O’Connell stated, “to have the kind of offseason to have the ability to reply that query.”
Stated Adofo-Mensah: “We’re actually assured in him, his work ethic and his preparation. However I can not sit right here and let you know I do know something for sure.”
There is not a lot precedent for projecting McCarthy’s subsequent step. He was the primary quarterback within the NFL’s trendy draft period (since 1967) to overlook his total rookie season due to harm after being chosen within the first spherical.
However realistically, the Vikings have 40 days earlier than they must tip their hand. The NFL’s deadline for utilizing the franchise tag is March 4, after which the Vikings wouldn’t have the ability to cease Darnold from agreeing to a free agent contract with one other workforce when the negotiating window opens March 10. They may at all times signal Darnold earlier than that time, if he’s prepared to forgo a visit to the open market, and buying and selling him after making use of the franchise tag is another choice.
Assessing Darnold for a doable 2025 beginning function carries its personal challenges. He earned his first Professional Bowl honors in 2024 after throwing for 4,135 yards and 35 touchdowns within the Vikings’ first 16 video games, at which level he ranked No. 12 within the NFL with a 63.8 QBR. However his efficiency then cratered within the Vikings’ two most essential video games — losses within the regular-season finale to the Lions and wild-card spherical to the Los Angeles Rams — as he threw a mixed 23 off-target passes, based on NFL Subsequent Gen Stats, and took 11 sacks. His QBR (14.8) ranked thirty first out of 32 certified quarterbacks throughout that interval.
Within the quick aftermath, O’Connell stated will probably be “crucial” to contemplate Darnold’s full “physique of labor” relatively than specializing in the Lions and Rams video games. And based on Adofo-Mensah, the Vikings mentioned the opportunity of Darnold upending their timeline for McCarthy even earlier than the season started.
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“I at all times ask Kevin [O’Connell] earlier than the season begins, ‘Hey, what info would you might want to form of change your thoughts?'” Adofo-Mensah stated. “And to say it beforehand so that you just’re not form of whipped round with what probably may occur. And we had these conversations beforehand. We thought there was an opportunity Sam Darnold may play at a excessive stage. Simply seeing what he had accomplished at earlier stops and what Kevin’s infrastructure and our infrastructure right here has accomplished for different quarterbacks which have performed right here, we thought there was an opportunity for a excessive stage.
“Did I do know it was going to be a Professional Bowl? I am not going to sit down right here and let you know that. However I believe that there was some a part of us that every one believed that Sam was going to have a extremely good season, and so after we made the transfer, that was a part of the calculus.”
McCarthy turned 22 earlier this month and is youthful than many of the prime quarterbacks in 2025 draft. If the Vikings resolve he wants one other yr of seasoning, re-signing Darnold is a sensible choice. Something in need of that, nevertheless, may spur a 3rd choice: pairing McCarthy with a special veteran who may give them a reputable on-field exhibiting till McCarthy is prepared. And the Vikings already are deep into evaluating the likeliest candidate for that function after signing Daniel Jones to their apply squad in November.
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Jones spent six weeks studying O’Connell’s scheme and was added to the 53-man roster for the playoffs. The Vikings made that transfer primarily so as to add Jones to the Vikings’ 2026 compensatory decide method, however Adofo-Mensah acknowledged the bigger reality about Jones’ presence this season.
“It was simply giving ourselves choices relying on what probably may occur this offseason,” O’Connell stated of including Jones. “It is not the expertise, as a result of clearly you’ll be able to watch movie and see the expertise, though it does assist to see it up shut at instances, however actually simply how he’s in conferences, the varieties of questions he asks, the dynamics within the room, various things like that. And that was an incredible alternative for us and for Daniel … to see if that is the constructing he desires to be in. … I believe he is a possible choice for us going ahead.”
If nothing else, this season offered a transparent glimpse at Darnold’s ceiling. The Vikings understand how properly he can play of their system, however they noticed his limitations as properly. They’re going to pair that info with their greatest projection of McCarthy’s progress and, within the subsequent six to eight weeks, their plan on the place shall be clear.
