Vikings Enter the Season With a Red Flag
The Minnesota Vikings are well-equipped to be even better than last year in their 14-3 season. Perhaps not record-wise – it’s hard to win 14 games – but they have addressed various past issues and could be a scarier team come January.
The Vikings’ Red Flag
To play meaningful football in January, however, the club needs one specific player to perform well under the bright lights, and that’s J.J. McCarthy, who will get his first NFL action in September and therefore is a total mystery.
CBS Sports‘ Cody Benjamin named the “quarterback uncertainty” Minnesota’s red flag.
He wrote, “It’s rare you find a team so equipped for a deep playoff run yet without so much as a morsel of certainty under center. J.J. McCarthy may have the full support of a winning staff led by Kevin O’Connell, whose chief strength besides perpetual ‘Minnesota Nice’ optimism is maximizing his quarterbacks, but he’s still a 22-year-old with zero real NFL snaps under his belt.”
There’s no doubt about it: the Vikings need McCarthy to play well if they want to achieve a special season in 2025. Because he has never played at this level, there’s no good way to predict his level of play.
Although he is not a rookie anymore, the expectations should be similar to some extent, and for most first-year players, tossing 20 touchdowns and throwing for 3,500 yards is a decent season. In Minnesota, however, that would be a massive downgrade.
“Facing not only a difficult schedule but inflated expectations from fans who watched Sam Darnold win 14 games a year ago, he’s at least got the weapons and staff to aid his debut,” Benjamin concluded.
The good news is that there’s a lot of optimism in the Twin Cities.
A couple of weeks ago, ESPN analyst Jeremy Fowler reported, “It was told to me that the Vikings feel like J.J. McCarthy, in day nine of these offseason workouts, was a lot stronger than day one. Coming off that knee issue, they knew he could start a little slowly but they like the way he’s throwing the ball, they feel very comfortable with where he’s at going into training camp.”
The Vikes allowed Sam Darnold to walk after a 14-win season that put a Pro Bowl in the passer’s resume. It will be hard for any player to reach his 35 touchdowns and 4,300 yards, but for a 22-year-old with zero NFL experience, it is close to impossible.
For those who want to stay optimistic regardless, perhaps the fact that Patrick Mahomes finished his first year as a starter with 50 touchdowns can do that. Is that likely? It definitely isn’t, but it’s allowed to dream.
One guy thinks the young signal-caller can replicate Darnold’s success. ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky, a former quarterback in his own right, said this month: “I think he’s gonna be awesome this year, honestly. I totally believe, production-wise, he’ll play very similar to what Sam did last year. One, there’s just a scheme and a roster talent — Minnesota’s the easiest place in the NFL to play quarterback this year. It’s as good an offensive roster as we have in the NFL. And then you combine it with scheme and play caller in Kevin O’Connell, a lot of guys would go to Minnesota and play good football.”
Minnesota’s offense is a dream for any quarterback. Head coach Kevin O’Connell turns even reclamation projects into Pro Bowlers. Imagine what he can do with a talented first-rounder who’s pretty much winning wherever he goes.
It surely doesn’t hurt that McCarthy’s arsenal includes Justin Jefferson, a wideout on a Hall of Fame trajectory, as well as Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson, who wouldn’t be awful as a team’s top two receivers. Hopefully, the improved offensive line can keep him clean.
It’s certainly fair to hold back expectations for the Michigan alumnus, but also for the entire team. However, he is set up nicely to hit the ground running.
His first NFL start will be in Soldier Field.