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MN Vikings Insider Unable to Dig Up Any Dirt on JJ McCarthy
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- MN Vikings Insider Unable to Dig Up Any Dirt on JJ McCarthy
Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Vikings have gathered in Eagan today, at TCO Performance Center, for their first full-team workout of the offseason, officially named "Voluntary Organized Team Activities", or what most refer to as OTAs.
It's an exciting time for the Vikings , as coaches and teammates get their first look at redshirt rookie quarterback JJ McCarthy , after he impressed those around the organization last spring and summer, after being drafted No. 10 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft
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Then, right as his training camp competition with Sam Darnold as starting to heat up, McCarthy went 11-of-17 for 188 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception (116.8 QB Rating) in his first preseason game against the Las Vegas Raiders , before realizing the next day that something was wrong with his knee.
Credit: Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings
An MRI then revealed a tear his meniscus, which required surgery and a full season to heal. Now, all of that is behind JJ, as the Minnesota Vikings kick-start voluntary OTAs this week. So far, everything we've heard, both publicly and behind the scenes, regarding McCarthy, has been positive.
Nothing negative anywhere to be found on JJ McCarthy
In fact, according to Darren Wolfson (KSTP) on Tuesday's episode of Mackey & Judd (SKOR North) , he couldn't dig up any negative dirt on JJ McCarthy, even if he was looking for it. Phil Mackey asked Wolfson if anyone, off the record, has tried to smear McCarthy's name. The answer… is no.
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Not one person out of the many Minnesota Vikings contacts in Darren's rolodex has offered up one bit of negative information on the future face of the organization. Why? Probably because everyone loves the kid so damn much.
Mackey : "Outside of the injury, literally everything everyone has said about [JJ McCarthy] has been positive. So, I am wondering, is there anything [negative out there about him]? Like, what's the worst thing we can say about JJ McCarthy right now, 13 months in."
Wolfson : "I'm not sure there is anything, Phil. No, I mean to answer your question, the answer is no. I have not. And trust me, I correspond with a lot of people. Now, if I did hear something negative, I prefer if somebody attaches their name to the statement, as opposed to me passing it along on background.
But I'm just telling you, truthfully, no. I've not heard one bad thing about J.J McCarthy. You think about him leading IMG Academy to a national championship in high school, helping Michigan win a national championship in college. The two, like it's not a coincidence, put it that way. There is something about JJ McCarthy, however you want to define 'It Factor', JJ has it."
Remember, the Minnesota Vikings believe so much in McCarthy's readiness to take over as QB1 immediately, that they were in no hurry to ink a requisite veteran to compete with the Michigan product during camp.
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McCarthy's biggest challengers in Minnesota's 2025 QB room, at least for now, are Brett Rypien and Sam Howell , young career backups, who are 28 and 24 years old, respectively. Howell and Rypien have combined to make 22 total starts through the course of their NFL careers.
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New Minnesota Vikings QB has the "It Factor"…
Yet, head coach Kevin O'Connell and the rest of the MN Vikings organization appear unphased by the fact that this redshirt rookie QB, with zero starting experience in the NFL, is about to be tasked with leading an otherwise Super Bowl ready roster into the 2025 season.
But if you have to ask "why" KOC would be so willing to hand the keys over to JJ McCarthy, then you haven't been paying attention. Wolfson goes on to talk more about JJ McCarthy's "It Factor" and just how special those inside TCO Performance Center really believe he can be.
[McCarthy] puts in the hours, he puts in the time. There's a genuineness about him, an authentic… he's just the real deal…Now that doesn't mean he's going to have a Sam Darnold-esque year, this year. Be top 10 in MVP voting. I presume there's going to be some hurdles. There inevitably typically is, with a rookie quarterback. That's what he is. He's still a rookie.
So, I get it. But the infrastructure around him, I'm telling you, I will be shocked if he doesn't have a good amount of success. As we look at the big picture, as we look at this rookie contract, what I think will eventually be a second contract here, with the Vikings, I think he has success written all over him. I just haven't heard any negative things about JJ McCarthy.
