Leading up to the 2024 NFL Draft, J.J. McCarthy had hoped the Minnesota Vikings would be the franchise that called his name.
Ultimately chosen by Minnesota with the No. 10 overall pick, McCarthy landed with the franchise he had sights set on, where he’ll have a legitimate chance to secure the starting quarterback job during training camp this summer.
For McCarthy, his optimism stems from his pre-draft interactions with head coach Kevin O’Connell.
“It was the way [O’Connell] presents the install,” McCarthy told ESPN. “The way he compartmentalizes everything about how to look at this play individually and how to make it more relatable to what your knowledge is and how you can smoothly and efficiently step into this playbook.
“That was something that was truly unique because you go around to so many defensive coaches like [Washington’s] Dan Quinn and [New England’s] Jerod Mayo, and being able to have that relationship as former QB and current QB, it’s truly special and it means a lot.”
The Vikings weren’t the only team with McCarthy high on their draft board.
Following the NFL Combine, McCarthy was viewed by many across the league as one of the biggest winners who saw his stock surge ahead of the draft.
“I think there’s a gap between Caleb [Williams] and the rest of these quarterbacks,” former NFL Executive of The Year Randy Mueller told me following the Combine. “But, you better put J.J. McCarthy in that top group of quarterbacks, because he may have the biggest ceiling of all of them.
“He crushed it in Indy, and he actually crushed it on film, it’s just taking certain people a while to catch up and realize.”
McCarthy lands in Minnesota where he won’t only have the luxury of playing for a quarterback-friendly head coach but also one of the most dynamic supporting casts in the sport.
Justin Jefferson is arguably the NFL’s premier receiver, producing 5,899 receiving yards and catching 30 touchdowns through his first four seasons opposite emerging talent Jordan Addison who caught 70 passes for 911 yards and 10 touchdowns as a rookie in 2023, creating the ultimate soft landing for the former Michigan signal caller.
While O’Connell and the Vikings are understandably going to be patient with McCarthy, who completed 67.6 percent of his collegiate passes at the University of Michigan for 6,226 yards with 49 touchdowns to 11 interceptions across three seasons, there is plenty of optimism in Minnesota about his upside.
“When we selected him, we had a lot of confidence in what he could become under the right circumstances and development and timetable,” O’Connell said, “and that didn’t exactly end up being the mindset just a few short months later.”
