In the wake of the stunning end to the Minnesota Vikings’ season in Monday’s wild-card loss to the Los Angeles Rams, they delivered some promising news on Thursday: J.J. McCarthy is back to on-field training.
“I’m very excited about where J.J. is at,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said in an end-of-season press conference. “He’s returned to on-field training. He’s returned to being right where we hoped he’d be at this point to have the type of offseason to be able to answer that question (about whether or not he can start beginning in 2025).”
The Vikings had high hopes for McCarthy when they drafted him No. 10 overall out of Michigan in the 2024 draft, but he missed the entire season with a torn meniscus in his right knee. That left the door open for veteran Sam Darnold, whom the Vikings had signed on a one-year, $10 million contract. Darnold went on to have his best season in seven years as a pro, setting career highs in both passing yards (4,318) and passing touchdowns (35).
O’Connell said having a chance to sit behind Darnold for the season was a good thing for McCarthy.
“I think he maximized what this year was for him,” O’Connell said. “I think he’s got a level of comfort in our offensive system, getting to have a front row seat for every aspect of what Sam went through. Watching it morph and grow and adapt, why we do things. We’re being defended like this, here’s the next iteration as our offense continues to take shape to do the things we feel we need to do to win every single game. Him being able to absorb a lot of that and now have a really positive offseason from start to finish here will be able to give us the answer to that question, as well as what that quarterback room looks like as a whole.
“Very excited about the opportunity to be there with J.J. as he continues to move through this wonderful thing we call the quarterback world.”
Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah echoed the sentiment, saying of McCarthy: “I was in there, and he was in there doing cool quarterback things. He was in there. Looks great. Excited. You talk about a kid who is obsessed with football and loves being around the game. We’re excited about what we have in him. We’re excited about the offseason. It’s a big offseason. And then we’ll continue from there.”
What does McCarthy’s return mean for the Vikings’ quarterback situation?
It’s a positive sign, at the very least. The Vikings must answer a fascinating question over the next couple of months: What to do with Darnold?
He played exceptionally for most of the season but struggled mightily in the final two games, which were the two most important games of the season. Darnold is destined for free agency unless the Vikings franchise tag him. Doing so would open the door to a potential trade, or to securing him for another season.
Would that be as necessary with McCarthy’s rehab headed in the right direction? It’s a fair question. McCarthy is likely to have to put on weight before the spring and establish comfort again with his mechanics. It’ll likely be a considerable amount of time — and long after the Vikings have to make a decision with Darnold — before they can be convicted in how ready they believe McCarthy will be.
In the meantime, Minnesota must ask itself how much it wants to spend on the QB position and weigh that decision with its many roster needs elsewhere. None of these have obvious answers, but there is no question that the Vikings drafted McCarthy with the No. 10 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft to be their quarterback of the future. The torn meniscus tossed a wrench in the initial vision, but Thursday’s news was at least a sign that he was veering back toward the projected path.
How does Daniel Jones fit into the Vikings’ future?
It’s a great question. Adofo-Mensah left the door open Thursday to a Jones return. The quarterback will enter free agency and have multiple suitors. If the Vikings do not franchise tag Darnold, or if the Vikings cannot come to terms with Darnold on another contract, Jones will emerge as an option to pair with McCarthy. This is not to say that McCarthy couldn’t start at the beginning of the 2025 season; to the contrary. It’s more that the Vikings would also likely prefer an experienced option if they deem McCarthy needs more time to develop, or if he were to suffer an injury during the season.
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(Photo: David Berding / Getty Images)
