Don't call JJ McCarthy a rookie quarterback

McCarthy outlined on Monday how much he learned from his year recovering from knee surgery

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By Matthew Coller

EAGAN — Inside TCO Performance Center on Monday, quarterback JJ McCarthy bounced around in a red shirt and backward cap like a kid on the playground. He warmed up with some pretend drop-backs, did some arm circles and then got busy tossing around the pigskin around the schoolyard.

A couple deep sideline passes from the 50-yard line connected with his receivers and then the QBs went to the goal line to throw some shorter routes. With Jordan Addison running an out-breaking pattern toward where the media was filming, McCarthy seemed to want everybody to know that he’s back because he let the ball rip at high velocity. The throw was on the money.

Message sent: “I’m back” — Michael Jordan, JJ McCarthy.

Of course, the Minnesota Vikings are only in the midst of voluntary offseason workouts, so the young quarterback isn’t doing taking on a heavy workload on the field and he isn’t out there running the offense yet but the workouts are a very welcome first step for him toward getting back to where he left off when he suffered a torn meniscus last August.

“I felt like I was back the second I started throwing,” McCarthy said. “I was always itching to get out there and get after it, and I kind of always felt better than what I was supposed to feel.”

Throughout the offseason, it hasn’t always been clear where McCarthy stood in the grand scheme of things. Prior to the start of free agency, it appeared plausible that Sam Darnold could return in 2025 considering he went 14-3 as the starter last season. Then a few weeks ago, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell had conversations with future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers, who expressed interest in playing for the purple. But now that the dust is settled and the only other quarterbacks on the field on Monday were Sam Howell and Brett Rypien, there is no debate over McCarthy’s status. He’s the guy.

Asked if he’s ready to start, McCarthy did not hesitate to answer.

“I know I'm ready to start,” McCarthy said. “I appreciate that question because all the work I put in and just the confidence in my skills and abilities and just being able to do my job and simplify things to the best of my ability every single day. And just take it one day at a time, one play at a time. I have a tremendous coaching staff, a tremendous group of guys around me that I can lean on, and they can lean on me.”

There aren’t many situations where a quarterback is starting for the first time ever in his career and his team has legitimate Super Bowl aspirations. The team arrived to voluntary workouts this year with T-shirts that said “More is Required,” which was based on a tweet from veteran outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard following the Vikings’ loss in the playoffs to the Rams in January. Combine the previous results with many millions spent on the roster to beef up the offensive line, defensive line and backfield and you have a high-expectation situation for the quarterback. Out of the frying pan and into the fire goes McCarthy.

How does he feel about the pressure?

“I think the more pressure, the better for me, because that's something I thrive off of,” McCarthy said. “And they always say the cliche, pressure is a privilege, but that's something that you sign up for when you play in the National Football League, especially at the quarterback position. I feel like pressure, all it does is just bring out what's inside of you.”

“I feel like that's where I feel most comfortable, is when the lights are the brightest, the stage is the biggest stage out there,” McCarthy said. “And I know it's going to be a lot more of that to come.”

He does have the background to argue that he’s been under pressure to win before. McCarthy won a high school championship at IMG Academy and played his college ball in The Big House at Michigan. He beat Ohio State. He beat Alabama. He won a national championship with Big Blue.

Nothing in high school or college football can prepare a quarterback for what the NFL is like when the pressure cooker is turned up all the way. Look at what happened in Detroit to Sam Darnold last year. Even the fact that Darnold is not still the Vikings starting QB is proof of the harshness of the league. So there will be a learning curve for McCarthy when it comes to the vicious ups and downs at the highest level but one thing he has on his side is experience behind the scenes.

You will probably hear often this season that McCarthy is “essentially a rookie” because he was unable to take a snap in his first pro season but all the things that he learned in 2024 are coming along with him into his first year as a starter. For starters, he had a resilient quarterback to watch in Darnold.

“Just being a true pro,” McCarthy said when asked what he learned from Darnold. “Showing up, being the same guy every single day. It didn't matter if he had four touchdowns one week, or had a not so great game the other week.”

He wasn’t sitting on his hands during those long months he spent waiting for his knee surgery to recover. McCarthy used virtual reality to simulate being in the huddle for practice.

“Our VR stuff during the year was kind of like watching film, but you saw it through Sam's [Darnold] perspective,” he explained. “So, it helped out a lot at practice, when I was able to kind of replay it, hear the play call, say it, and then watch it from his point of view. And it was just more reps on reps and mental reps are ultimately one of the greatest things to improve, especially when you're not able to do it physically.”

Aside from the VR work, McCarthy met with O’Connell on a weekly basis to go over gameplans and act as if he was going to start for that week. He also spent his time working on scouting opponents.

“Defensive coordinator reports, establishing a big kind of plan of each player going into that week and making sure that I knew all the ins and outs and all the busy work on the front end when I had the time for it, so next year, I don't have to spend too much time on things that aren't going to show up in the biggest way, and just really making sure I could be efficient next year with my prepping and my game plan studying and all that stuff,” he said.

On game days late in the season, McCarthy was able to listen in while head coach Kevin O’Connell called plays into Darnold’s headset.

“The thing I learned the most was just his mindset on how he's setting up certain plays, how he's handling the situation,” McCarthy explained. “He always talks about, like, ‘I'll manage the game, you manage to play.’ And just being able to really understand his overall objective going into each drive in each game. And I'd say it was just truly a gift and a blessing to be able to be on the sidelines for all those opportunities to really just intricately dissect what he was doing out there, and yeah, it was good in a stress free environment.”

At this time last year, he was just preparing for rookie minicamp. It’s a night and day difference between now and back then between the ears.

Another key difference between 2024 and 2025 is that McCarthy’s teammates know him. They saw him practice every day last year. They saw his approach to his rehab and how far he has come. They have been around him as a person. He doesn’t have to come into workouts, OTAs and minicamp trying to get to know everybody’s names and prove he can throw a ball.

“The big part for JJ is that he’s very organic,” captain Josh Metellus said. “He will come in here and be himself. As long as he can be himself, his abilities and traits going to excel. We don’t need him to come in and be the Patrick Mahomes of the team right now. He’s still trying to figure things out, he still has to play his first game…the last thing we want him to feel like he has to do is say the last word to the team. We have a veteran team for a reason to welcome in a guy like that.”

Pro Bowl edge rusher Jonathan Greenard also took note of McCarthy’s personality and ability to connect with his teammates as a factor in him already having the team behind him.

“He’s working his tail off and I’m like, this is our quarterback and he’s a younger guy, nobody’s telling him to do this stuff,” Greenard said. “He’s still the same guy as the first day I met him. He’s checking in on guys like, ‘how you doing?’ A lot of people do that to check off a box but he genuinely wants to know. That’s what you want out of your quarterback… we’re all behind him. We’re all standing 10 toes with J.”

None of that sounds like a rookie.

He is a first-year starter though. He knows that the true trust of his teammates will be built through the entire season. So what’s his approach to leading confidently?

“Just be me,” McCarthy said. “Do everything I can to make sure that I'm the best version of myself come game day. And just put out that body of work that they're going to see on a day-to-day basis. Be consistent, be dependable, be reliable, be a true pro, and the rest will take care of itself.”

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