Matthew Coller: J.J. McCarthy isn't afraid of bumps in development path

Sam Darnold will start camp as QB1 but McCarthy made progress throughout OTAs and minicamp..

Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy works during Minnesota's offseason OTAs on June 12, 2024. / Image courtesy of Andy Kenutis and the Minnesota Vikings

EAGAN — After a bit of prodding, Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell acknowledged on the final day of the OTA and minicamp portion of the offseason that Sam Darnold will begin training camp as the starting quarterback.

That news shouldn’t come as much of a shock to anyone considering Darnold worked with the starters throughout the entire spring program while first-rounder JJ McCarthy practiced largely with the less experienced players. But the decision to place the veteran quarterback in the pole position come late July isn’t a reflection on McCarthy’s spring, rather evidence of the plan the Vikings had for him to develop all along. The Vikings have said since draft night that they were going to be patient with their 21-year-old QB rather than rushing him into the starting lineup.

The former Michigan star is embracing it. On Wednesday he said that he is learning the playbook by having his fiancé read plays out loud to him and then breaking them down. At the suggestion of Darnold, he’s going through footwork in his apartment. During the next six weeks before camp, McCarthy said the only vacationing he’s going to do is the occasional golf outing. He will be around TCO Performance Center still working every day to prepare for camp while the building is otherwise empty.

“I’m going to be in the facility as much as I can focusing on building habits that I can rely on when it starts getting hectic and crazy in training camp,” McCarthy said. “I’m just going to be here working my butt off.”

Specifically the element of his game that he’s been working on the most is footwork. Everything in O’Connell’s offense is based on timing, which means that McCarthy has to master a lot more different combinations of steps and routes than in college. Think of it like playing with a driver, seven iron and putter at Michigan and needing to hit every club in the bag in the NFL.

“When you tie up all the individual footwork to all the individual concepts, this playbook is a lot bigger than ours back in college,” McCarthy said. “Every single day keeps getting better and better and it becomes more instinctual and it’s the reps that are helping me progress the fastest.”

O’Connell also pointed to the footwork as the starting point for mastering his scheme.

“We talk a lot about things like base, balance, body position when you're making certain throws, how you read,” O’Connell said. “You're reading with your eyes, seeing coverage and everything, but you're really reading with your feet…We try to really challenge the guys to read with their feet and the timing of plays and tying their feet and eyes together. A bunch of nerdy football talk to say how comfortable can you be playing in an efficient way, still be accurate, still be showing all the arm talent traits that J.J. [McCarthy] has shown over his career.”

What McCarthy seems to understand very well is that these things are going to take time. He didn’t hide from the fact that some practices during the OTA and minicamp periods were better than others and provided a window into his mindset after the final practice of the spring and talked about looking for steady progress rather than riding the roller coaster.

“Growth is not a straight line, it goes up, it goes down, it goes up, it goes down but I’m trying to maintain the trajectory of going up and up,” he said. “I feel like I’m on that and I’ve been attacking every day with a growth mindset and it’s been doing me well so far.”

The rookie has to balance the results of each practice with testing out what he is capable of doing within the concepts.

“That’s something that I battled with in college, being process oriented over outcome driven,” McCarthy said. “Realize that out here [in practice] it’s OK to fail, it’s OK to try to fit a ball in and then watch the tape and then say, ‘hey, we probably should have progressed on.’ So I’m focused on the process and the outcome will take care of itself.”

“I definitely get down on myself being the perfectionist that I am but you have to [accept down days], they are inevitable, failure is inevitable in sports,” he continued. “You have to learn from those little dips and not be attached to them emotionally.”

O’Connell explained that he has seen a consistency in McCarthy’s personality since he arrived in the building, which is valuable at the QB position.

“No matter how it goes, whether it's a really positive day or there's a few plays that he wants back, he's going to authentically be himself every day. He's never gonna get too high, never gonna get too low, which are cliches in the quarterback world, but they are for a reason what they are. Because if your quarterback is kind of riding that roller coaster emotionally day in and day out, there's a good chance your team, especially your offense is probably doing the same thing.”

The “learning phase” of the offseason may have confirmed some things that the Vikings thought about McCarthy when they picked him but there are plenty of questions that will be answered during training camp. How will the camp reps be split? How much will the QBs play in the preseason? When will they name a starter?

“We only control so much in this whole thing and that's what I've challenged the quarterbacks to do is control what you can [control] - which is your preparation, how detailed can you be and can you stack good periods of practice together, good days together,” O’Connell said. “Before you know it, you're looking up and it's not about the camp you've had, it's about your readiness to help the Minnesota Vikings win.”

Additional notes

— Kevin O’Connell said that Nick Muse was not at practice because of a procedure that he had on his knee, he will be ready for camp. Jalen Nailor returned on Wednesday. He missed minicamp due to the flu.

— Here is what O’Connell said about the competition at WR3:

“Jalen Nailor had another really good off-season program. Unfortunately, had to miss a couple days of minicamp with the flu there last week. Jalen has always been a guy that when he's healthy and on the field, he shows up every single opportunity he's gotten. That's our challenge to him is sometimes things are out of your control and then we understand that, but for him to take that next step we're gonna need to see him out there a lot as part of that group. Brandon Powell had a great spring just like he's had since he arrived. So versatile, can do so many different jobs. Then, there's a lot of young guys that we've been really coaching up either on our practice squad a year ago or maybe bringing in a guy like Trent Sherfield or some of the undrafted free agents we brought in. All those guys are here for a reason to be a part of a competitive situation.”