REPORT: Troubling News For Minnesota Vikings Rookie Quarterback J.J. McCarthy Surfaces After Practice

The Minnesota Vikings had more troubling news surface for rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy following the team’s practice on Wednesday. The Vikings are working through their OTAs this month with several new quarterbacks. Sam Darnold is leading the chase for the QB1 job.

The Minnesota Vikings have a “growth mindset”

As previously discussed in GH last week, the Vikings have a “growth mindset” for McCarthy this offseason:

“We have to strike it perfectly and ultimately maintain a growth mindset with him,” McCown said. “We want him to perform well every snap that he gets. But every snap that he gets, a lot of these things are his first snap at some of these looks and some of these throws.

And just the things that you get asked to do in the pros across every organization is different than what you’re asked to do in college. I mean, the hashes are different. So, so many of these things are new and first time for him.”

J.J. McCarthy is struggling with accuracy

McCarthy must also master the red zone drill. As many analysts have pointed out, the red zone was McCarthy’s weak spot at Michigan. Per Kevin Seifert with ESPN, McCarthy struggled during the Vikings’ red zone drill on Wednesday:

“There are no indications that the Vikings were looking to test McCarthy in a “1’s vs. 1’s” situation this spring. McCarthy’s throws have plenty of juice but have not always been accurate. During a red-zone drill Wednesday, he had three consecutive passes hit the ground.”

Seifert doesn’t think the errant passes are too big of a deal. McCarthy threw “other passes” that were accurate during the drill. However, Seifert said the drop-off between Kirk Cousins and McCarthy is noticeable:

“That’s nothing to be concerned about, especially because other passes were right on the money. But after years of watching Kirk Cousins‘ precision throws, the lack of consistency has been noticeable. Overall, however, the best way to describe McCarthy this spring is with one word: Rookie.”

Sam Darnold looks more polished

The drop-off between Darnold and McCarthy during OTAs is also noticeable. According to the Vikings website, Darnold and Nick Mullens threw multiple touchdowns to receivers. McCarthy threw one touchdown but missed another due to an inaccurate throw:

“During a particularly strong stretch for the offense in 7-on-7, Sam Darnold threw touchdowns to receivers Trishton Jackson and Jordan Addison, Nick Mullens hit Robert Tonyan for scores on consecutive reps and J.J. McCarthy found receiver Lucky Jackson for a score.

McCarthy almost made it a two-fer, but a pass to Trent Sherfield, Sr., was just beyond the receiver’s outstretched right arm.”

Per Seifert, McCarthy is getting fewer reps than Mullens at OTAs:

“After two days of minicamp, and with one final week of OTAs remaining, he’s squarely behind veteran Sam Darnold on the depth chart. During the practices open to reporters, Darnold has taken nearly all of the first-team reps, and more often than not, veteran Nick Mullens has been the next quarterback to step in followed by McCarthy”

McCarthy isn’t the only rookie signal caller going through growing pains this spring. New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye recently got the bump to QB2 this week. We’ll see how quickly McCarthy can jump up the QB ranks during training camp. It could be a while before he’s ready to start.

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