It took an extra season, but the Minnesota Vikings are J.J. McCarthy’s team.
After the former first-round draft choice suffered a season-ending injury during training camp last summer, giving way to Sam Darnold to lead a career-renaissance nd the Minnesota Vikings to the postseason, McCarthy is primed to open the 2025 season as the starting quarterback, beginning a new chapter in the franchise’s history.
While McCarthy has yet to take an NFL snap, the man who will be snapping him the football is optimistic about the young quarterback’s future.
“He’s fiery,” Vikings center Ryan Kelly said, via ESPN. “He’s got some stuff to him. He’s got that energy that you want as a quarterback and as a young guy who missed his entire rookie season. I think you need that edge, where this guy … wants to prove who he can be in this league. He wants to lead this team to an NFC North title. He wants to go to the NFC Championship Game. The Super Bowl. And I think he also understands that there is a lot he hasn’t seen and doesn’t know.”
McCarthy, 22, was chosen with the No. 10 pick, out of Michigan in the 2024 NFL Draft and now has the opportunity to walk into an offense featuring playmakers Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison at wide receiver, and a defense that emerged as one of the league’s stingiest last season.
Having the soft landing of those two elite receivers has Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell optimistic about his new young pupil’s future and that of his team.
“It’s exciting to draw routes up on a board and come up with new ideas,” O’Connell said, “and that stuff’s been great, and we’ve done a lot of really good things here. But time and time again, you continue to think about the ability to get that yard, the ability to go be physical in every game you play, regardless of the opponent.
“The ability to have a collection of five guys up front, playing as one with the type of skill sets and physical ability we have now, gives me really good feelings about what we can be, not only this year, but beyond.”
As the earliest of preparations for the 2025 season begin, McCarthy is already making a strong impression on his teammates and could be primed to take the Vikings a step further than even Darnold could during his career-year in 2024.
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