'It's going to be competitive': Kevin O'Connell sets training camp stage for Darnold, McCarthy

Vikings head coach discusses early takeaways and expectations for rookie QB J.J. McCarthy.

Kevin O'Connell, J.J. McCarthy / Image courtesy of Minnesota Vikings

Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell is "looking forward" to a "competitive" camp between quarterbacks J.J. McCarthy and Sam Darnold.

Minnesota filled the void left by Kirk Cousins' offseason departure with former No. 3 overall pick Sam Darnold and rookie J.J. McCarthy, who the team selected with the 10th overall pick in the draft. O'Connell spoke glowingly of what he's seen from his rookie QB during a Friday appearance on KFAN's The Power Trip Morning Show.

"J.J.'s been absolutely awesome. When you're drafting a quarterback you've got to be all in. We spent a lot of time, energy, traveling around the country spending time with these guys that we wanted to really evaluate and consider bringing to our team," said O'Connell. "From the moment that I got a chance to meet JJ, obviously his season at Michigan, the success he's had at every level of football, it all kind of makes sense when you meet the kid. Everything he's been since he's been here as part of our team, since we were fortunate enough to draft him, has been that. I'm really, really excited about where he's going to go. My hope is that he's a Minnesota Vikings quarterback for a really long time. He's doing everything in his power, I'm sure he's going to have a great training camp."

O'Connell has so far been hesitant to say when Vikings fans could see McCarthy take meaningful snaps, mentioning several times throughout the team's offseason activities that the rookie needs to clear 'benchmarks' before getting to take the field. Throughout minicamp and OTAs Darnold primarily took first-team snaps and O'Connell ended OTAs by saying Darnold "would be the guy" he looks to as the team's QB1 based on the "spring he's had and the career he's had."

That's not to say there isn't a chance McCarthy takes the reigns at some point during his rookie season. The Vikings selected McCarthy with the 10th overall selection, placing a lot of pressure on the QB and organization for success. O'Connell said there was some "nervous moments" as quarterbacks started flying off the board during the draft but that they were ultimately "very fortunate" to land McCarthy.

On when he thinks McCarthy will be ready to take over the Vikings' high-powered offense, O'Connell said it's about seeing consistency from the rookie.

"I know me, personally, as the playcaller I have so much dialogue with these guys. Mentally you'll kind of know, at least when he's ready to go out there and truly take the reigns and run with it," said O'Connell. "I think it's one of those things, physically it's not going to be much for J.J., just because he's very, very talented, has a really strong arm, very accurate. At this point he's just working through some techniques and fundamentals of footwork and timing of how we run our offense. I think it's going to be a matter of consistency. Putting some good days together. Then getting some opportunities in the preseason games and really showing where he's at."

O'Connell noted his own short-lived career is having an influence on how he wants to develop McCarthy. As a fourth-round draft pick by the Patriots in 2008, O'Connell was brought in to back up Tom Brady. In the middle of his second training camp with the Patriots, O'Connell was waived. He then spent the next few years bouncing around the league before the calls stopped coming ahead of the 2012 season.

"Ultimately, I'm pretty sensitive to the quarterback journey," O'Connell said. "You look at our quarterback room right now and a guy like Sam Darnold, what his quarterback journey was and types of situations that maybe weren't ultimately conducive to him becoming the best version of himself. I think he's learned from a lot of those things and now has an opportunity to apply all those things he's learned in a pretty darn good situation, throwing to Justin Jefferson and Jordan [Addison] and T.J. [Hockenson] and the rest of our guys."

Minnesota has a roster that is set up to compete right now. Darnold was brought in as a bridge until McCarthy is ready and clears all of O'Connell's benchmarks. How long that will be ultimately rests on former Michigan quarterback.

"I think with J.J. it's just going to be a matter of, it really is the good ole boring cliché of 'one day at a time.' And as he grows, gets that comfort zone and we really build an offense that is quarterback friendly, I think we've done that here. I think it's just a matter of putting it together a day at a time and then having that confidence in himself to feel like we can go out on a Sunday and attack an opponent with every facet of our offense," O'Connell said.

McCarthy, Darnold and the Vikings begin training camp July 27.