Late in Minnesota’s offseason program, head coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters that veteran Sam Darnold would be the team’s starting quarterback heading into training camp over the team’s rookie No. 10 overall pick J.J. McCarthy.
But given McCarthy’s draft status, it’s clear that the Michigan product will take over as QB1 sooner than later.
In a long piece from Kevin Seifert of ESPN detailing the Vikings’ transition from Kirk Cousins to McCarthy under O’Connell and G.M. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, the head coach noted that his previous experiences with coaching young QBs have left him more cautious. To that end, O’Connell has left the timetable for McCarthy becoming Minnesota’s starter open-ended.
O’Connell said McCarthy will be ready when “the comfort level that he has within our offense and his ability to then translate it to adverse situations and difficult aspects of playing quarterback in the NFL aren’t magnified by inexperience.
“But I want to be very clear that the expectation is for this player to not be perfect. … He’s going to have growing pains, he’s going to learn on the fly. I’m not trying to remove that aspect of it, either, but [deciding when he will play] is not something you can write up on a board. It’s a feeling.”
In their two seasons together, O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah have compiled a 20-14 record with one NFC North title. While the Vikings were in the hunt for a postseason berth late in the season despite Kirk Cousins’ Achilles tear in 2023, the team still finished 7-10. In the NFL, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that O’Connell’s job status could come into question with a poor record in 2024.
But O’Connell said his priority is putting McCarthy in the best position to succeed.
“It’s just more about what is in the best interest of the organization,” O’Connell said. “Those circumstances cannot affect what J.J.'s development plan is or any other player on the team for that matter. It just can’t be something that selfishly ever impacts that decision.
“That really won’t change because, and I don’t know if it’s the former quarterback in me or not, but I do feel an obligation to have the best interests of not only J.J. but our entire team, at heart, when we make that decision.”
