The timeline: How we arrived at JJ McCarthy's first start

McCarthy's day has finally arrived -- and there were many steps along the way

Photo courtesy Minnesota Vikings

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By Matthew Coller

MINNESOTA — If you are telling someone the story of Minnesota Vikings quarterbacks, you begin with Fran Tarkenton. He is the team’s first and only true “franchise quarterback.” He took them to the Super Bowls, he broke all the passing records. He’s a legend.

Since Tarkenton there have been many memorable moments involving Vikings QBs, from Touchdown Tommy to Wade Wilson to Brad Johnson to Randall Cunningham to Jeff George to Daunte Culpepper to Brett Favre to Teddy Bridgewater to Sam Bradford to Case Keenum to Kirk Cousins and a few more mixed in along the way. The commonality among all the non-Tarkenton QBs is that the magic was always fleeting.

It was a Hail Mary against the Browns, a monster playoff outing against the 49ers, a division title, a Miracle, a Wild Card win, a 14-win season… but those moments came and went without A) a Super Bowl appearance B) a sense that there was another bite at the apple around the corner.

When the Vikings take the field on Monday against the Chicago Bears, it will represent much more to the loyal faithful, many of whom were forged during the Tarkenton days. The debut of 2024 first-round draft pick JJ McCarthy is an opportunity for a hardened fanbase to discover the type of quarterback that many other franchises have had along the way. The guy who gives you numerous chances at glory. The guy whose jersey you can buy and not worry about him playing for the Falcons next year.

Everyone thought this debut was going to happen much earlier. When McCarthy was picked in the 2024 draft, you would have set the over-under at Week 5 last year. Instead the wait was much, much longer.

Getting from Point A to Point B with McCarthy set to make his NFL regular season debut with an overhauled (and every expensive) roster supporting him, was not an easy, smooth ride. There were twists and turns, speculation and reports, highs and lows and a lot that we learned about the organization and head coach Kevin O’Connell along the way.

So let’s take a journey through the offseason and how the Vikings arrived at a moment that fans have been anticipating for a long, long time.

The end, the beginning

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Kevin O’Connell looked completely stunned as he stood at the podium trying to make sense of what just happened.

He is never at a loss for words and never has trouble striking the right tone, yet he was searching for both. Should he be angry? Defiant? Apologetic? Frustrated? Sad? All of the above?

Following the Vikings’ Wild Card round playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams on January 13, 2025, it was easy to see that the head coach wasn’t in a place mentally to discuss or dissect the future of the quarterback position. He just got hit by an 18-wheeler, he wasn’t ready to talk about his next car.

For everyone else, the JJ McCarthy era had started at halftime.

What the Rams did in their 27-9 victory over the Vikings was shine a light on every single weakness on the Minnesota roster.

They blasted the taped-together interior offensive line. They took advantage of the lack of interior pass rush. They made the Vikings a one-dimensional passing team. They found holes in the defense’s coverage behind their blitzes.

It was as clear as the waters of Lake Minnetonka that they had a lot of work to do in order to be a true Super Bowl contender despite the 14-win total that suggested they should have been. It was also undeniable that Darnold had shown his worst side — the side that landed him on his fourth team with a one-year, $10 million deal — at the worst time.

But McCarthy was far from proven. At 22 and with less than 800 passes to his name since high school, was he going to be ready to put an entire organization on his shoulders?

The recovery

EAGAN — At the Vikings’ season-ending press conference, they announced that McCarthy had started throwing again — the final step in recovery from a torn meniscus.

“From a medical standpoint he’s returned to on-field training, he's returned to being able to be right where we hoped he would be at this point,” O’Connell said in January.

When it comes to injuries these days, we tend to assume that modern science heals NFL players like the Madden video game. The guy disappears for a while, comes back and it’s just like old times. That easy, right?

For McCarthy, it was not easy. It took six months before the former Michigan star could get back onto the field in any real capacity. In the interim, he needed another procedure and sustained serious weight loss, which sent shockwaves through the fanbase when they saw the skin-and-bones version.

It was reasonable to ask whether McCarthy was going to be able to get physically ready to be QB1 by the time the offseason really kicked into gear in OTAs.

At that point, the team was in wait-and-see mode about whether he would quickly get back to 100% but they knew that they had put in the work to prepare him mentally while he was recovering.

“I think he maximized what this year was for him,” O’Connell said at the EOY presser. “I think he's got a level of comfort in our offensive system and getting to really have a front row seat for every aspect of what Sam [Darnold] went through from being in the first year in our system and watching it kind of morph and grow and adapt as the season went on.”

During game weeks in 2024, O’Connell already had an eye on the future with McCarthy. He had the first-round pick “mirror” what Darnold was doing, from the film study on Tuesdays to going through the early-down gameplan on Wednesdays, third-down plays and red zone on Thursday and then sitting down one-on-one with the head coach to talk about the call sheet. O’Connell would have a “red pen” meeting with McCarthy where they talked about the QB’s favorite plays of the week just like he was going to start.

They also had him working with a virtual reality system, essentially watching film through Darnold’s perspective. He could listen to the way the veteran quarterback called plays during practice and put himself mentally in the huddle.

McCarthy helped with reports on players, coming up with plans for opponents to lend a hand for Darnold and the staff and prepare himself for this year when he sees many of those same players.

The reason TV cameras found the skinny version of McCarthy was that he had a headset on during games so he could listen to KOC send play calls into Darnold and process them as he was standing on the sidelines. He took a lot away from that experience.

“The thing I learned the most was just [O’Connell’s] mindset on how he's setting up certain plays, how he's handling the situation,” McCarthy said about watching O’Connell call plays . “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.”

By the time McCarthy started the offseason program, he had already taken in an ocean of information about how to play QB in the NFL. It’s just that his body had done very little of it.

The decision (Part 1)

EAGAN, INDIANAPOLIS — On February 4th, McCarthy appeared on the Rich Eisen show. He didn’t sound like a guy who knew for sure that he was going to be the 2025 starting quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings.

“When money gets involved, things get complicated and reps get skewed and there's different things that come into the whole political world that everyone talks about,” McCarthy said. “But I really just have to focus on controlling what I can control. My feelings don't matter.”

"I'm not getting any grace. There’s no sympathy. This is the big leagues."

The Vikings had a window between the Disaster in the Dessert and the start of free agency to weigh their options and make a decision on Darnold. It’s not often that you see a team win 14 games and wonder if they should bring back their quarterback but the circumstances were totally unique with a first-rounder waiting in the wings and a large percentage of the roster set to become free agents.

“What's the team around them going to look like? How does this piece fit into our whole championship equation?” general manager Adofo-Mensah said at the end-of-year press conference.

Adofo-Mensah said that last offseason they had gone through an exercise where he asked O’Connell how good Darnold would have to play in order for him to remain the QB going forward.

“What information would you need to change your mind?” Adofo-Mensah said. “And say it beforehand so you’re not whipped around with what could potentially happen.”

The entire world was whipped around by what happened. Following Week 17’s victory over Green Bay, it seemed inevitable that Darnold would sign a contract to remain with the Vikings. He put together a borderline MVP season to that point. It was almost impossible to envision him playing as poorly as he did against Detroit in Week 18 and Los Angeles in the postseason after having seen Darnold carry the team to wins over good teams like the Cardinals, Falcons, Seahawks and Packers down the stretch.

At the NFL Combine, everyone looked for hints on O’Connell’s face and within his comments about which way he was leaning. Did he want the “sure thing” QB back? Was he trying to pump up Darnold’s value to trade him?

His only slip up was using past tense.

“Sam’s year was so fun to be a part of, just thinking back to this time last year and onward through the offseason, acquiring Sam and getting him to trust in us to help him on that next step on his quarterback journey and what a step it was, so proud of the year he had,” O’Connell said. COM

When Adofo-Mensah took the podium, he was also noncommittal but acknowledged the uniqueness of the situation.

“Pro Bowl quarterback, win all those games and then lose to two teams twice,” Adofo-Mensah said. “That was the core of our offseason, really thinking through wholistically. Not trying to be overweighted by those eight quarters but not underweighting those last two games. He played a lot of good football for us. Year 1 in the system so you can expect more later, so we’re excited about the potential for Sam, whatever that ends up being. It’s a tough exercise.”

In Indy, the Vikings talked with other teams to weigh the potential trade market. Since everyone around the NFL figured Darnold would end up as a free agent — and some QB-needy clubs were shockingly not interested — the Vikings found no legitimate offers.

They offered Darnold a contract that they knew he would never take because he earned more long-term stability and cash with his 2024 performance. He earned being “the guy” somewhere, not a guy who looks over his shoulder at the popular draft pick.

So the decision came down to whether the Vikings wanted to franchise tag Darnold or not. They were going into free agency with around $60 million in space and it would take $41 to tag Darnold. They could do some other maneuvering but it was clear that tagging him would not allow them to fix all of their weaknesses via free agent spending.

On March 7, just days before the opening of free agency, the answer to the QB conundrum came in an unexpected way. The Seattle Seahawks traded quarterback Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders, making it clear that they were going to sign Darnold.

When free agency opened, Darnold signed a three-year deal with Seattle.

As he exited, Vikings fans celebrated that the team had chosen the McCarthy path. After all, the purple faithful were well aware from the Kirk Cousins era what happens when a good QB gets paired with a good roster. Good results. Not great results. Either a great QB or a great roster can win but lacking one of those two things gives most teams little-to-no chance.

In mid-April, after months of only being allowed to work by himself, McCarthy got back out on the field for offseason workouts with his teammates.

In the 15 minutes open to the media, he sent a little reminder that he still knows how to throw a football. McCarthy was doing routes on air with his receivers and Jordan Addison ran an out-breaking pattern toward the media’s sideline. McCarthy put the heat behind it, right on the money, right in front of the cameras.

Off we go, right?

The decision (part 2)

EAGAN, PALM BEACH — As Lee Corso would say: Not so fast, my friend.

Shortly after the Vikings made big splashes in free agency with the swimming pool of extra cash left by Darnold, re-signing Aaron Jones and Byron Murphy Jr. and acquiring Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave, a rumor came out that was too ironic to be true.

Vikings considering Aaron Rodgers? Nah, gotta be made up. There was no way on Roger Goodell’s green grass that Rodgers would follow the Brett Favre path down to the letter by signing with the Vikings. Also, there was no way that the Vikings were crazy enough to let the fox in the henhouse after Rodgers had just left the Jets organization in shambles.

How naive of us. Once upon a time, we learned that there is truth to all rumors.

The Vikings went quiet. Free agents weren’t being introduced. Stars who signed massive extensions weren’t being thrown on conference calls. The Athletic’s Dianna Rusinni was reporting realistic chances of Rodgers signing in Minnesota and Mike Silver put the odds at 50-50. Cue the Jim Halpert meme: What is going on?!?

The reporting raised a lot of questions about McCarthy. Were they not sold on him? Why not bring back Darnold if that was the case?

As the days went on without any white smoke from TCO Performance Center denying the rumors, it became more clear that it was something being seriously considered. Surreal.

And then finally Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reported that the Vikings had elected to stick with their plan. On March 27, the team held a press conference to talk about their signings with Adofo-Mensah. It turned into The Rodgers Trials.

“I think we got to a place where we just said… ‘right now we feel good about where we're going,’ and that's really how it ended,” Adofo-Mensah said. “It's ultimately up to him what he decides to do with his future, but that's kind of where we left it. I know Kevin [and Rodgers] have a great relationship, still have a relationship and keep talking and but right now, I'm focused on the two players that are in our room and my personnel process for going forward.”

Still, while Adofo-Mensah said that McCarthy had passed every “check point” along the way, there was still a feeling of the situation being unsettled. The door was not totally closed by the GM.

“Given where we are scenario wise, we didn't think it was the right move at this time [to sign Rodgers],” Adofo-Mensah said. “For me to sit here and say that anything's 100% forever, that's just not the job, right? We're responding to scenarios and different information as it comes so obviously things can change. But right now, we're really happy with our room, and we look to upgrade it in different ways.”

Some media folk continued to speculate that the Vikings would give McCarthy a chance in the spring and then call Rodgers to come save them.

A few days after KAM’s press conference, O’Connell talked with the Twin Cities media, including Purple Insider, at the owner’s meetings and explained what happened with the Rodgers buzz.

“Aaron and I have had a relationship for a long time and when he initially reached out and we were able to have some conversations as we are on the hunt to always improve our football team and put our football team in the best possible chance to win,” O’Connell said.

It wasn’t until the next day, though, that the nail was officially placed in the Rodgers idea coffin.

“The fact that we even had to move up [in the draft] to make sure that we weren’t going to lose JJ for any reason says a lot about the dynamic we had with him,” owner Mark Wilf said at the owner’s meetings. “He’s been a winner at every level and… how he’s approached his rehab, how he’s approached everything has given everyone a lot of confidence in the building.”

The owner had spoken. McCarthy was to be QB1.

OTAs, minicamp

Photo courtesy Minnesota Vikings

With the path chosen, the hard part was on the way.

McCarthy began relearning the actual steps and throws of the offense.

Building the foundation started with 7-on-7s in OTAs. O’Connell studied every detail as they installed the offense.

“In the 7-on-7 space [during OTAs], I think you can really get a feel for, ‘Is a guy reading with his feet? Is he taking the right drop? Is his base and body and balance positioned to the throws and sequence of the drop in the proper place? And did he make the throw? And then was it accurate?’” O’Connell said.

The head coach’s teaching method was to implement every part as if McCarthy was brand new. He didn’t want to leave gaps in the process because of assumptions about what the young QB knew.

“We can't assume that he knows any particular thing just based upon the meeting room,” O’Connell said. “We've got to come out and feel it and organically feel exactly where he's at….I've been really surprised by some of the things that he does know. You’re like, ‘Man, we covered that in a 10-minute burst in Week 11 last year; how do you remember that?’ And then there's some other things where you're like, ‘Oh, I assumed he knew that.’”

Beyond getting down the reads, calls, steps and “why” of the plays, the accuracy part was still being sharpened. McCarthy had taken enormous steps forward with his accuracy in 2024 and it was clear that he was still getting his feel for the football back in the spring.

“It just comes with the reps on reps on the field, just like you're working on your chips and in a golf game,” McCarthy said. “Just finding that feel over and over again, and having this much time off and not throwing the ball since the injury, I’m just finding that feel again.

But knowing where you have to improve is the first step. He put focus on mastering the touch passes. Offensive coordinator Phillips pointed particularly at the improvement in his feet when throwing.

“Going back to his college days there were times where you get a really wide base and and your accuracy can sometimes suffer,” Phillips said. “He's put a lot of hard work into learning our offense. What's the proper footwork? How does that tie in with routes that are coming open at about the same time that his feet are in the right place?

A theme that emerged during the spring was the buy-in from McCarthy’s teammates. It seemed to greatly benefit him that they had seen him play during the previous camp but he also demonstrated a commitment that looked more like a veteran than a noob.

“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,’” outside linebacker Jonathan 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.”

Camp, the preseason game

In the early part of training camp, McCarthy had an eyepopping practice where everything clicked and he looked like he was ready for stardom. On that same day, he threw a jump ball to Justin Jefferson and when the No. 1 receiver came down, he tweaked his hamstring.

Jefferson sat out the remainder of camp, making McCarthy’s practices more challenging to evaluate from the reporters’ perch on the sidelines. Some days were fairly smooth, some were up and down and some were miserable. When the pads first came on, it trended toward miserable for several days as the defensive line mauled the O-line with Christian Darrisaw out and Will Fries still ramping up from an injury.

McCarthy found his way to the other side and got back on track, particularly when targeting Jordan Addison or TJ Hockenson. By the time they reached the first preseason game, he put together a handful of quality practices and seemed confident.

The young QB admitted to having some tears shed as he got ready for the game. It had been a year since a simple play in a preseason game brought his career to a halt.

McCarthy’s lone drive was unspectacular and ended in a field goal but it featured some high-level stuff. He was proud of a completion that hit Addison on an out route for a first down.

“Just all the work we built up up to this point…that's a 25-yard out cut and just being able to trust that timing in real time,” McCarthy said. “And to trust the protection. It was a huge kind of growing rep that I felt like just injects confidence in my beings going to the next one.”

Later in the drive, he had an opportunity to hit Lucky Jackson streaking across the middle for a big play and the ball sailed a touch high over the receiver’s head. McCarthy walked off the field wishing that his timing had been slightly better.

“I feel like there were a couple occasions where I could have sat in there and trusted the pocket and made a better decision in that time frame,” McCarthy said. “The one to Luck [Lucky Jackson] across the middle, if I would have just waited a click longer, I would have found him in that window.”

O’Connell seemed pleased after the game, maybe taking a deep breath himself that McCarthy checked off another box en route to Week 1.

“I think there's just a level of composure and poise to how he ran the show that was exactly what I was looking for,” O’Connell said. “Now we go back to work. It's obviously a checkpoint for our whole team, but clearly for JJ, as we got a chance to kind of have our first chance since last year, headset communication in real time, play clock and all of us coaches on the sideline with him running the show. I thought he did a really, really nice job with that.”

The rest of the preseason belonged to the backups.

The QB1 moment

Throughout the summer, O’Connell kept bringing up the joint practices like a kid waiting for Christmas to arrive.

He couldn’t wait to get McCarthy out there against the New England Patriots because he felt that there was no better test than full speed reps versus another team. It was nice to have a fine preseason appearance but bland toast has more flavor than preseason games. The Patriots were going to run their stuff. Mike Vrabel’s team was so prepared for the Vikings that they did actual game planning in the days before the joint workouts.

On the first day, the two teams battled admirably. McCarthy was thrown off by some of the looks that the Patriots gave him because he didn’t see anything like that on their preseason tape. On Day 2, he stopped trying to guess the defense’s pitch and focused on himself.

“It switched my mindset into this day with just: hear the call, play the call, focus on my fundamentals, and go through the pure progressions and play it from there,” McCarthy said. “I feel like I was able to be more decisive and quick and really focus on my feet, which is the foundation for the rest of the play.”

On Day 2, he went off, completing 12 passes in a row at one point and leading a “game winning” drive that was capped off by a touchdown to Addison.

When O’Connell arrived at the podium after the second joint practice, he had a skip in his step.

“It felt decisive, it felt an incredible amount of conviction to some of the decisions he made, location of the football, and a lot to build on,” O’Connell said. “Another checkpoint for us as a team and I'm really proud of the work the guys put in, and like I said, far from perfect, it never is, but joint practice gives you the chance to see some game-like situations.”

For all intents and purposes, training camp ended on that note. All those days stacked up and one drive seemed to feature everything that he had been building toward. It was hard not to think forward about what it would look like when McCarthy was doing the same thing with 90 seconds left in a one-score game at US Bank Stadium.

It’s time

Isn’t it appropriate that the fan base that has waited forever for McCarthy was forced to wait another 12 months because of a knee injury and then wait until all of the other games in Week 1 were completed?

Well, it’s finally here. Nobody knows for sure what it’s going to look like. And everybody knows that what it looks like on Monday night is going to change and have many phases as we go through 2025 and beyond. Right before kickoff, think about this: It will be the last moment that McCarthy is a concept rather than an actual NFL quarterback.

And then, the franchise goes off into the future.

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