The Vikings confidence in and excitement about J.J. McCarthy remains the same.
Head Coach Kevin O’Connell spoke with Twin Cities beat reporters Monday morning during the NFL’s Annual League Meeting in Palm Beach, Florida, and told them he feels “really, really positive” about McCarthy. He noted enthusiasm not only around the young quarterback’s health after suffering a season-ending knee injury last preseason but also what he gained during his pseudo “redshirt” rookie campaign.
O’Connell said McCarthy has heard some of the Vikings play calls “100 times now” and knows the entire protection system.
“He knows why we change certain runs to run it the other way, and he knows a lot of the core principles of our offense now,” O’Connell said. “Now he gets to learn it [again] from the very beginning. Again, that’s why I love the spring so much. We’re not ending where the season ended and teaching from there; we go back to the true grassroots of the offense and start teaching it for everybody all over again, and the detail.
“There’s going to be some areas where we look to improve as a team, as an offense, as a defense, special teams, and J.J. gets to hit the ground running as a big part of that with our whole team, when we get going in the spring,” he added.
Kevin O’Connell on State of the 2025 Vikings, Free Agent Additions, J.J. McCarthy’s Development, Conversations With Aaron Rodgers and More
Here are five takeaways about Minnesota’s QB situation covered during O’Connell’s session:
1. O’Connell describes conversations with Aaron Rodgers
O’Connell elaborated on what General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said last week about the head coach speaking with longtime Vikings foe and four-time All-Pro Aaron Rodgers.
“Aaron and I have had a relationship for a long time, and when he initially reached out, and we were able to have some conversations, as you know, [we’re] on the hunt to always improve our football team and put our football team in the best possible chance to win,” O’Connell said. “You’re constantly acknowledging all of — and evaluating — all of the opportunities that may be out there, and certainly that was one that I found to be interesting, just because it speaks to what our [organization] has kind of turned into for quarterbacks, which I know Kwesi and I are very proud of, our coaching staff is very proud of.
“But at the same time, we’ve had a quarterback plan in place with J.J. McCarthy, and we really like where he’s at in that journey right now, and looking forward to getting the offseason program going with him, in addition to all the work he’s done leading up to that time coming up here in a few weeks,” O’Connell added. “And that’s kind of where we left things.”
2. McCarthy & others aware of Rodgers discussions
Reporters asked O’Connell how discussions with Rodgers may have impacted a young quarterback like McCarthy.
They were reminded by O’Connell about his commitment to transparency and authenticity with the team, as he explained McCarthy was made aware of the conversations “almost in real time.”
“Because I do see him every day, throughout the week, and I thought it was important, just so that he was hearing it from me, and my perspective, from the very first time I had any communication in regard to Aaron and any of the other free agents that we’ve discussed at kind of all positions,” O’Connell said. “It’s fun to keep players in the loop. I talked to Justin Jefferson, I talked to T.J. Hockenson, Brian O’Neill, Jonathan Greenard, all these guys, as much as I possibly can, just because that’s what we try to build our whole organization around, is that communication.”
3. ‘Two things can be true’
While speculation had circulated across the league on Minnesota’s interest in Rodgers and vice versa, one narrative that surfaced was whether the conversations implied concern around McCarthy’s recovery timeline or preparedness.
O’Connell thanked reporters for bringing up the question and responded, “I think this comes down to, two things can be true at the same time.”
He elaborated:
“We took [McCarthy] 10th in the draft last year, after a very extensive evaluation process. A lot of things that we hoped to see from him, we saw in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, he got injured. And we tried to maximize as much as we could his ‘redshirt year,’ while still making sure we were getting Sam Darnold and our other quarterbacks ready to play. And I think J.J. was able to take some things out of that and be ready to go for the spring.
“Now, the second part that can be true is, Aaron Rodgers is a four-time NFL MVP and somebody who, not just myself, but we’ve all had so much respect for competing against him. And he happened to be at a point in time in his career where he was free to have some real dialogue about what his future may look like, and we happened to be one of those teams that he reached out to.”
O’Connell reiterated his “personal relationship” with Rodgers dating back to the pair of quarterbacks’ playing days, as well as his confidence in McCarthy and the Vikings coaching staff working with him.
“I do feel very strongly about where he’s at right now, and based upon the information we have from the evaluation process, the time we had with him, I feel very good about projecting a really positive year for J.J.,” he said. “And now we’ve gotta go to work and do it. Talking about it in March and April doesn’t do a whole lot.”
4. McCarthy ‘putting in work’ on field
Vikings coaches are not allowed to be involved with players’ on-field work during this portion of the offseason, but O’Connell expressed confidence in what he knows McCarthy is applying during his rehab.
He referenced Vikings Vice President of Player Health & Performance Tyler Williams and his staff, as well as people McCarthy may work with outside of TCO Performance Center, saying “there’s an umbrella there that we can feel pretty good about the work he’s putting in.”
“The volume of work that he’s put in, where he’s at from throw count and taking the reps off drops and things like that,” said O’Connell, who added he’s told J.J. not to plan on anything too intense right off the bat.
“I’ll probably take up half the time [on the first day of OTAs] with a team meeting, yapping a whole lot. Then there’ll be a lift, and there’ll be a run, and then there might be a couple minutes in the meeting room, and that’ll be the duration of day one,” O’Connell said. “So he’ll get a gradual, nice runway there. From Phase 2, where we get on the field and start getting some good time working fundamentals and technique, into Phase 3, where OTAs can actually start, believe it or not, post Memorial Day this year — it’s very late because we can’t start [the offseason program per NFL rules for teams with returning head coaches] until the third Monday in April.”
5. Will the Vikings add another QB?
As it stands now, Minnesota’s quarterbacks are McCarthy and Brett Rypien, whom the Vikings signed as a free agent in 2024. Darnold and Nick Mullens have signed with the Seahawks and Jaguars, respectively, and Daniel Jones—who spent the final weeks of the 2024 season in Minnesota — opted to join the Colts.
O’Connell pointed out there are “different avenues” the team can still go, while emphasizing comfort level in the current position group.
“There’s other players that are going to be available, via signing them, or possibly a trade, that — we want to exhaust all those options, because we know people want to come to Minnesota to play quarterback, which is a real positive, but we want to make sure that the fit of the room is right,” he said. “Figuring out what will be the best combination, normally, [benefits] not only the guy playing, but your feelings of the guy that’s a snap away, or potentially two snaps away.”
O’Connell said he’d like to have “as many guys in there as possible,” as he did last season.
Worth remembering, though, is the league’s compensatory pick formula and how that could influence timing of roster additions.
“I feel strongly about the year we had with Sam and the time we had with Daniel, knowing that the positivity for the Minnesota Vikings might not be felt as a reward for a year, but it’s still going to come at some point,” O’Connell said.