In 2025, the Minnesota Vikings will be entering a new era with J.J. McCarthy as the team's new starting quarterback. In order to make McCarthy's transition into the starting lineup as easy as possible, the Vikings have spent the last few months building their roster with an emphasis on taking the pressure off of their young quarterback.
Many feel like Minnesota has done a great job this year of surrounding McCarthy with the necessary tools to succeed next season, including FOX Sports's Carmen Vitali, who shared her thoughts about the team during an episode of the "Up & Adams" show on Monday.
"The really good news for Minnesota is they've pretty much quarterback-proofed their team. They don't need a whole lot out of J.J. McCarthy in order to make this engine run. Between the defense, that is, if it wasn't downright scary last year, it's insane now.
I'm salivating at what Brian Flores is going to be able to do with this defense this year, [given] the fact that they got [Jonathan] Allen and Javon Hargrave up front.
And then, [the Vikings] took their biggest weakness, and they addressed it this offseason in the interior of their offensive line."
Minnesota Vikings hoping their increased efforts to build the trenches will help J.J. McCarthy succeed in 2025 and beyond
Some might be wondering what this bold plan is that referenced in the headline, but it's quite simple actually. Bold is just what describes the nature of everything the Vikings have done this offseason.
Since the conclusion of the 2024 season, Minnesota has spent a ton of valuable resources to not only improve the protection in front of McCarthy, but improve the talent level of a defense that ranked fourth in the NFL in points allowed per drive last year.
If opposing teams can't score and they can't get by the Vikings' new and improved offensive line, then one would assume that McCarthy is going to be able to help the team win a bunch of games next season.
For 2025, Minnesota doesn't need its second-year quarterback to lead the charge, they just need him to help steer the ship in the right direction.
