Vikings Rookie QB Checks Another Box on Friday
The Minnesota Vikings have started their annual training camp, and the team is constantly moving forward in its preparation for the regular season. With just over six weeks to go until Week 1 arrives, all eyes are on rookie passer J.J. McCarthy and his development. The first-rounder hasn’t given his fans any reason to stop believing in him.
Vikings Rookie QB Checks Another Box on Friday
As a first-round pick, McCarthy is obviously envisioned to be the starting QB for years to come. However, his first start might not occur immediately in the first matchup with the New York Giants on September 8.
The good news, however, is that he is progressing well, producing promising highlight plays almost daily. Most of his work is coming with the second-team offense against both the first and second-team defense.
On Friday, though, head coach Kevin O’Connell finally inserted him into the top offensive group for a few reps. The Athletic’s Alec Lewis reported during Friday’s practice session, while issuing a warning: “First time I’ve seen J.J. McCarthy take snaps with the 1s in red zone period here. No need to freak out. Darnold is still taking the majority of snaps. Was bound to happen. No over-analysis necessary.”
Indeed, there’s not too much to read into it. It was another small step in the right direction rather than a big breakthrough. The Vikings appear to trust him to execute the offense to an extent that doesn’t result in wasting any of the valuable first-team reps.
ESPN’s Kevin Seifert mentioned that the first of the two snaps was a handoff to wideout Jordan Addison. The second one was a dangerous pass that was nearly intercepted. Just like there’s no reason to get too excited, there’s no reason for concern either.
Almost two weeks ago, when training camp was about to begin, O’Connell said about the QB position: “I have no preconceived, preset depth chart in my mind beyond, I believe I said at the end of spring, Sam was the number one quarterback. Sam had a great spring. J.J. came in here after being drafted and had a really productive spring as well. So, my message to those guys is I want a really competitive situation. Sam will be taking the majority of his reps with that first group, but I think you’ll see J.J. maybe get some as well. But also, it’s about the quality as much as the volume of those reps throughout camp.”
If there was a game tomorrow, Darnold would undoubtedly be the starting quarterback. Regardless, there’s still over a month to go until that is the case, and McCarthy has been looking like a competent challenger.
Last week, the rookie out of Michigan gave himself a tap on the shoulder and talked about his growing comfort level within the offense: “I honestly feel like I’ve been here for a year already. I stayed back this entire summer to just not take my head away from it and just continued to dive into the playbook and focus on the little things like drops, like progressions, like the different defenses that Coach Flo (Brian Flores) throws at us. I feel like being around this building, every single day, my comfortability in this offense is growing exponentially.”
McCarthy will likely continue to take snaps with the top offense in the next practices, and his first chance to see the field will come on Saturday next week when the team hosts the Las Vegas Raiders for a preseason scrimmage.
Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and prefers Classic rock over other genres. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt