The Vikings have opened camp with Sam Darnold getting the majority of the first-team reps at quarterback, but head coach Kevin O’Connell suggested that won’t always be the case on Tuesday.
First-round pick J.J. McCarthy has generally been working with the second team and O’Connell said that the rookie is “seeing some of the things that will allow him to start phasing into getting into the huddle.”
“You will see at some point see J.J. be consistently maybe getting more one reps there,” O’Connell said at a press conference. “At the same time, I think Sam earned the right to take the bulk of those reps early on.”
O’Connell also gave an overall assessment of how both quarterbacks have looked to this point in camp.
“Both guys have done a lot of really, really good things and some more notable — visually — than others,” O’Connell said. “I also think both guys have made some mistakes with the football – learning mistakes — where they’re trying to either see if they can squeeze a ball in over the middle before a safety can step in front or maybe not taking a chance down the field in a 1-on-1 where maybe that’s our best option.”
The Vikings play their first preseason game on August 10 and O’Connell has not outlined how the quarterback work will be divvied up, but he said Tuesday that there’s a “clear-cut plan” in place.