Vikings Appear Ready to Begin the McCarthy Era

It seems (for now) that the Vikings will not sign Aaron Rodgers and are ready to hand the keys to the offense over to J.J. McCarthy.

I think there was a good case to be made that the Vikings should bring in Rodgers given that there is some urgency to win this year. To be clear, 2024 NFL Coach of the Year Kevin O’Connell is not anywhere near the hot seat. But how much longer will the Vikings have Justin Jefferson in his prime, Jordan Addison on a rookie deal, and Brian Flores’ defense all together in the same building? This could be the last year.

It’s a huge assumption to think that McCarthy is going to seamlessly fit in and immediately pick up where Sam Darnold left off.

That’s because, for all intents and purposes, McCarthy is a rookie quarterback. A torn meniscus and multiple surgeries kept him from getting any practice or in-game reps during his first season. He didn’t get the chance to acclimate himself to the speed of the NFL.

That means he’ll be trying to figure out the NFL game in 2025 while also trying to regain trust in his knee.

I’m not a doctor, but I know that coming back from a major knee injury or lower-body injury is no small task. It takes time to feel confident again when planting your feet to throw, or pushing off quickly to run. There can be a tendency to protect the injured knee as well. All of these can impact the way a quarterback plays.

Even for those quarterbacks who have had several years of NFL experience under their belt at the time of a major knee injury, most have gone through an adjustment period when returning to the lineup.

Just think back to Carson Palmer in 2006, Tom Brady in 2009, and Carson Wentz in 2018. None of them were quite themselves when they came back.

You can even look at Rodgers last season as well. He clearly wasn’t the same in his first year back from a significant lower-body injury.

If it’s tough for those quarterbacks with several years of NFL experience to hit the ground running, just imagine what it might be like for a 2nd-year player who has no NFL experience.

While those injuries weren’t exactly the same, the task will still be a tall one for McCarthy this season. I’m not saying he can’t or won’t do it. I’m not interested in making predictions about how a player will bounce back from an injury because I have no clue. No one does.

What I do know is that he’s got a team around him that is ready to win now and probably not hoping to deal with any rookie growing pains at the quarterback position this season.

That’s why a one-year experiment with Rodgers made sense. It wouldn’t hurt the Vikings’ future prospects or stunt McCarthy’s growth, especially since he could benefit greatly by sitting behind Rodgers and learning from one of the best ever to do it.

The Vikings appear to feel differently and are ready to dive right into a new era with their young quarterback.

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Do you think the Vikings are making the right decision for 2025?

Last year, I did a deep dive on McCarthy before the NFL Draft. It’s obviously still relevant since we didn’t get to see him at all during the 2024 season.

You can check that out below to see what to expect from Minnesota’s 2nd-year signal-caller.

2024 NFL Draft Breakdown: Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy

“I think he plays quarterback the best of any quarterback in the draft.” That’s what Jim Harbaugh had to say about J.J. McCarthy.

Now, you’d be a fool to think that Harbaugh would ever publicly utter a bad word about his former quarterback. You also have to consider that McCarthy being in play in the first 4 picks of this year’s draft helps Harbaugh’s Chargers, who pick 5th and don’t need a quarterback.

So his statement should be taken with a grain of salt.

But there is some truth to what he said in the sense that J.J. McCarthy understands how to play the position. And he did so at a high level while leading Michigan to the National Championship last season.

On the other hand, his physical talent isn’t overwhelming. In fact, on talent alone, he shouldn’t be drafted anywhere near the top of the first round.

Ultimately, it comes down to what each team is looking for from their quarterback. Do they want a physical talent who can add value with his arm or his legs when the play doesn’t work as designed? Or do they want a quarterback who can execute the offensive system flawlessly?

Regardless of preference, the bottom line is that McCarthy has many of the traits needed to become a successful quarterback in the NFL. But he will need time to develop as well as help around him.

Processing, Timing, and Decision-Making

When Harbaugh said McCarthy “plays quarterback the best of any quarterback,” it was likely his processing, timing, and decision-making that he was referring to.

McCarthy functions well within the design of an offense. He gets the ball where it should go and limits turnovers. His passes come out on time. He can throw with anticipation.

Just take a look at some of these passes below. This first one was on a 3rd-and-9:

Look where the receiver was when McCarthy made his decision and had just started his motion. His head wasn’t around yet:

Here’s another example of that anticipation. This was a 3rd-and-7:

Again, you can see the point where McCarthy had made his decision and just started his throwing motion below:

The ball placement on each of those throws was excellent as well.

As a part of his timing and ability to perform within the structure of the offense, McCarthy has shown that he is comfortable quickly working through progressions. On this next example, another 3rd-and-7, he calmly got to his last receiver and did so within the timing of the play.

First, let’s take a look at the route combo:

McCarthy’s initial read was to the right:

He didn’t like what he saw by the time he got to the top of his drop. So he took one hitch and moved to his next read:

McCarthy didn’t like that either, so he hitched again and got to his last receiver:

This time, he pulled the trigger:

Sideline-to-sideline and on time. Excellent job.

As a part of that ability to process and play with timing, McCarthy sees the field well. He has a good feel for where defenders are in relation to his receivers (as you could see above), but he also does a good job of reading and understanding defender leverage.

For instance, there were several throws where the defender turned his back to the line of scrimmage to hunt down a receiver. McCarthy saw this and delivered the ball as if the defender wasn’t even there: