The Minnesota Vikings put their faith in JJ McCarthy’s potential to become a franchise quarterback when they drafted him with the 10th overall pick, but the former Michigan star may have to ride the bench for a while before getting his shot in the NFL.
In his latest mailbag that was published on Friday, Alec Lewis of The Athletic wrote that he “definitely” does not anticipate McCarthy starting for the Vikings in Week 1. Lewis said he does not believe McCarthy will be under center until the second half of the 2024 season, if at all.
Sam Darnold took almost all of Minnesota’s first-team reps during training camp, and that was not head coach Kevin O’Connell’s way of sending a message to McCarthy. All signs point to Darnold entering the season as the Vikings’ starting quarterback.
“This is not a referendum on McCarthy’s talent or his minicamp performance — not in the slightest,” Lewis wrote. “It’s more a matter of the Vikings’ approach. When general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and coach Kevin O’Connell talked about team building years ago, before Minnesota hired them to lead its organization, the two men discussed quarterback development. O’Connell expressed his belief that time sitting can be valuable and can potentially even help bring about success.”
Some of the NFL’s best quarterbacks have spent at least a season holding a clipboard even after their teams used a first-round draft pick on them. Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers are two of the most famous examples. The Green Bay Packers took the same approach with Jordan Love, who finally got his shot last season and played very well.
Darnold is still only 27, but the chances of him turning into Peyton Manning are not great. Still, he has plenty of NFL starting experience and should benefit from being coached by O’Connell and having Justin Jefferson to throw to.
In an ideal world, the Vikings will remain in contention with Darnold as their quarterback and not feel inclined to rush McCarthy along. If the losses start piling up, however, the pressure to give the rookie a shot will mount very quickly.
