The Minnesota Vikings met in Eagan on Monday for the first round of their 2025 offseason workout program. That meant hearing from head coach Kevin O'Connell and a few veteran players, like Harrison Smith , Byron Murphy Jr and Aaron Jones . But out of all the interview subjects today, KOC was straight-up giddy .
You can tell he enjoys hanging out at TCO Performance Center a lot more when it is full of Vikings players. During his presser, KOC was asked questions on everything from his relationship with general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, to his thoughts individual members of his coaching staff, and even gave a handful of offseason injury updates on key contributors for the 2025 season.
Credit: Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings
Not only are there a few 2024 Vikings who are either coming back or still working there way back from lingering injuries, but Minnesota also signed multiple free agents who are recovering from different football-related ailments of their own.
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So this afternoon, O'Connell read off a handful of fresh-baked MN Vikings injury updates, which included the latest on (QB) JJ McCarthy, (LT) Christian Darrisaw , (CB) Mekhi Blackmon , (DT) Javon Hargrave and (RG) Will Fries .
Not only did Kevin O'Connell talk about JJ McCarthy during today's presser, but he spent over five minutes answering questions about JJ's knee, his recovery process the past 9 months and their plan for the 2024 No. 10 overall pick this offseason and going forward.
Here's everything KOC had to say about his redshirt rookie quarterback, who he remains very excited about. But as far as where McCarthy stands, entering this week of voluntary OTAs, the Minnesota Vikings head coach officially labeled him as a "full [participant], really no limitation".
Everything Vikings HC Kevin O'Connell said about JJ McCarthy at his press conference on Monday pic.twitter.com/t8lR3Pk5HM
— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) April 21, 2025
We knew JJ McCarthy was considered healthy and that he was pretty much considered 'ready to go'. But you just don't know how healthy that really is until someone gets on the practice field with teammates. So to hear that JJ has zero limitations during these early offseason workouts is great news.
There is only one Minnesota Vikings player recovering from injury who means anywhere near as much to the organization as their future franchise quarterback, and that is left tackle Christian Darrisaw, who suffered his own season-ending knee injury in week 8 of the 2024 season.
Darrisaw is still a ways away from returning to the practice field with his teammates, but his head coach really likes where he is at in his recovery and how he has attacked his rehab, to this point. Of course, when KOC turns a conversation the way he did Monday with Christian, you do wonder about his timeline and whether or not he will be ready by day one.
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He has about six months before the start of the season, so there is plenty of time. In no way does the 25-year-old staple left tackle seem behind schedule, it's just worth wondering how far out that original return date really was, given how late in the season he suffered the injury.
KOC gave an update (kind of) on Christian Darrisaw today too. pic.twitter.com/Lr4HjKJu9B
— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) April 22, 2025
"Christian [Darrisaw] has absolutely, knocked it out of the park so far. Working alongside our staff here. He's had a really, really good offseason up until this point. The latest update I got. You know, he's lifting, he's running…people were pretty excited about where he's at now. It's just a matter of maintaining."
"And he's had such a professional focus, with very, very, you know, really from day one, remarkably, he's just had such a good attitude about attacking [his rehab], knowing exactly what he is and who he is as a player and working his way right back to that place and beyond. So [we] feel really good about that."
The final few Minnesota Vikings injury updates today via Kevin O'Connell had to do with two freshly-signed free agents, Javon Hargrave (partially-torn right tricep) and Will Fries (tibia fracture), along with depth cornerback Mekhi Blackmon (torn ACL).
According to KOC, the latter is nearing the very end of his rehab and individual work, before returning to the practice field. He described both Hargrave and Fries as "limited" to start offseason activities.
Javon Hargrave and Will Fries– "Hargrave is another one that will probably be limited a little bit early on, but should progress throughout the spring. Will Fries and Hargrave are kind of in a similar spot, but expect those guys to progress at a pretty good clip, especially as we head toward phase two [of offseason programs].
Mekhi Blackmon– "A guy kind of heading toward the end point of that rehab, from his ACL [injury], and I see him progressing to football activities here as we move through the spring."
