As J.J. McCarthy prepares to lead the Minnesota Vikings into training camp for the first time as the team’s unquestioned starting quarterback, he’ll do so with a heavy weight of expectations on his shoulders.
Taking the reins for a team that fell one victory shy of winning the NFC North title and clinching the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs is daunting enough. Per ESPN’s Peter Schrager, it’s doubly so when you consider how Minnesota’s front office approached the offseason since the start of the new league year.
Schrager ranked McCarthy among his top five most pivotal players entering the 2025 season as the 22-year-old gets set to lead one of the most complete rosters in the NFL:
“J.J. McCarthy is taking over a team that went 14-3 a year ago with another quarterback,” he said during Monday’s episode of Get Up. “They moved on from Sam Darnold. They said, ‘No, no, we’re good with J.J. McCarthy.’ I think it’s one of the boldest decisions a front office can make — and they haven’t hesitated.”
McCarthy will take his first true NFL snaps this season, but to Schrager’s point, the margin for error will be razor thin. The Vikings are firmly inside a Super Bowl window entering 2025, and they’ll be counting on McCarthy — and his team-friendly, rookie scale contract — to help lead them there.
The franchise not only ditched both Darnold and Daniel Jones in free agency, but added zero competition for McCarthy with training camp now just around the corner. The other QBs on the roster — Sam Howell, Brett Rypien and Max Brosmer — help illustrate how the Vikings feel about their young QB, as does the near $300 million that ownership committed to spending in free agency this past spring.
This may be McCarthy’s de facto rookie season, but it sure doesn’t feel that way as the Vikings get set to open training camp on July 26.
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